While Robby Gordon and his off-road racing team navigate their Jim Beam/Toyo Tires Hummer H3 through Northern Africa’s Sahara Desert, his NASCAR Nextel Cup Series team is preparing for its second season of competition from its shop in Charlotte, N.C.
Robby
Gordon Motorsports (RGM), which was originally scheduled to participate
in Daytona testing Jan. 9-11, will now test at Daytona Jan. 16-18 due
to Gordon’s participation in the Dakar Rally through Jan. 15. While Gordon will use the first day of the test as a travel day back from Dakar,
the team will employ a replacement driver on the first of the three
days, with Gordon back in the seat for the session’s final two days.
The
test will be the first outing for the team with its new DEI engine
package that it will campaign the entire 2006 NASCAR season. With the prowess of DEI engines on all types of tracks, particularly at NASCAR’s two restrictor-plate tracks – Daytona and Talladega – better results from the second-year program are expected.
“Last
year was a frustrating season for everyone here, but we would like to
believe those days are behind us,” said John Story, general manager of
RGM. “Not only did we have a completely new group of
people working together for the first time and a new engine program,
but we also came into the Nextel Cup Series in a year where the rules
were amended to protect those teams that have shown loyalty to the
sport. Given our bad start, we fought the new “top-35” rule all season and were never able to get ourselves into the position we hoped. At some point early this season we will benefit from the same rule we fought all season.
“While we’re still outside the top 35, we have so much going for us that we didn’t have last season. Chief among them is our team. With
the exception of one person, the entire team that spent the last half
of the season together is back again for 2006, and we have added a
number of people to the staff to improve what was already a good team. We also have a fleet of cars that are all but complete and ready for the race track. At this time last year we didn’t have a single car on the ground. We now have as many as 11 cars all but ready to go.
“The
final, and perhaps biggest key to RGM having a successful 2006 season
is the fact that we will again have sponsorship from Menards, Jim Beam,
Harrah’s and CarLoan.com in addition to a long list of associate
sponsors. I believe our sponsors see where we’re headed as a team and are also anxious to see how far we can improve this year.”
Following
three days of testing at Daytona, RGM will take part in NASCAR’s second
test Jan. 30-Feb. 1 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway before returning to
Daytona International Speedway for the Feb. 19 Daytona 500 with Jim
Beam as the primary sponsor.
Visit Shop Tour Photos
---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
---------- ---------- ---------- |
