Weekly Racing Journal

Race/Date:                           Tropicana 400/July 13, 2003

Location:                      Chicagoland Speedway

                                      (21^st out of 36 races)

Start Position:              35^th

Finish Position:             Seventh   

Points Position:            15^th

Race Recap:

Robby Gordon and the No. 31 Cingular Wireless team worked their way from the back in the Tropicana 400 at Chicagoland Speedway to score their sixth top-10 finish of the season.

The weekend started out on a low note with Gordon qualifying 35^th and struggling with the car’s setup in Saturday's practice sessions. But hard work and perseverance paid off when the green flag waved to begin the 267-lap event Sunday. Running laps almost as fast as the leader, Gordon moved into 17^th position by lap 57, although the Cingular Wireless car's handling was too tight.

The Richard Childress Racing (RCR) team made a green-flag pit stop on lap 61 for four tires, fuel and air pressure adjustments to loosen up the car's handling.  Those changes did exactly what they were intended to do and Gordon soon radioed in that the car was great.  Team Cingular claimed the 13^th spot on lap 89 and rocketed into the second spot on lap 108. Some teams had fresher tires and the Cingular machine was still a little tight, causing Gordon to drop to ninth by lap 132.

The team continued to work on loosening up the car but as was the case with many teams, the Cingular Chevrolet was tight behind other cars. The team's charge to the front was halted on lap 215 when Gordon was forced to drive through the grass to avoid a five-car accident. Although Gordon avoided the wreck, the car's valance was a little torn up. Team Cingular pitted the two following laps for fresh tires and minor repair work, returning Gordon to the track in the 12^th position.  He told the team that the race car was the best it had been all day, as Team Cingular picked up two more spots to 10^th. Gordon hit his marks in the closing laps and took the checkered flag in the seventh position.

Robby Gordon Quotes:
”What a great run for the Cingular Wireless team today. My guys were great and worked with me all day. Friday and Saturday weren’t much fun for us and we struggled a lot. But we hit on something late in Happy Hour that we thought would make us really good Sunday. We did fight a tight car most of the day but the car was good enough to overcome it. We didn’t move up in the points but we closed the gap on the top 10 a lot. That’s still our goal this year – to finish in the top 10 in points and go to New York in December.”