R. Gordon on racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway: “Last year, the renovations definitely made a difference at Homestead. The increased banking made the track way faster and pretty fun to race. A major bonus on RCR’s side this year as we head to Homestead is having Jeff Burton on board. He has an average finish of seventh place there and he also tested there last week, so his feedback is going to be beneficial for all of us.

“Other than some mechanical problems toward the end, we had a good run there last year. I have qualified 39th both times I’ve raced there in a stock car, so I plan to do way better than that the third time around. However, I do remember it didn’t take me long to move up from 39th, too. I know we spent a good amount of time inside the top 10 down there last November and we’ve had some great runs lately, but have also had quite a few last-minute mishaps that always derail us from having a good finish.”

R. Gordon on racing in the 37th Annual Tecate/SCORE Baja 1000: “I have been down to Baja twice to do some pre-running and it is looking good so far. We’ve run pretty flawless. We did system check the race truck, which I am glad we did because we found a little problem that we were able to fix so it won’t be a problem come race time. Altogether, we have probably put in about 1,500 miles of pre-running. We put a few hundred miles on the truck last Monday after Phoenix. I am excited because, if history serves me well, I should have a pretty good run this year. I built a new Chevrolet K1500 last year and it will be one-year-old this year. That seems to be the time my old truck came to life so hopefully this one will do the same. I can tell a difference in it already. I also will have RCR engine power on board and I am very pleased with that, as well. In addition to engine power, my man power will involve at least 60 people, but probably more. I will have 12 support vehicles and one helicopter.

“I will only actually run around 750 miles of the 1,000-mile race, if everything goes good. If we have any problems, I will probably only run 500 miles of the race. It’s almost like the Indy/Coca-Cola Double, because I do have a timeline to meet. It’s all going to depend on our running condition and the clock as to when I get out of the truck and on the plane to head to Florida. Basically, we are going to run a three-people race that is usually a two-people race. My dad will be on standby, in case I do have to get out earlier than expected so I can head to Loreto to meet my timeline to get on down to Homestead. Brandon Miller will practice and qualify the No. 55 Fruit of the Loom Chevrolet Thursday, but it is my plan to be at the track on time Friday to practice both cars and qualify the No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet. The way it is going to work out for me in Baja is I should be in the air by 9 or 10 p.m. PST Thursday night. That will put me in Florida on Friday morning by 5 or 6 a.m. EST. That will give me time to sleep on the plane, then get into Homestead and sleep a couple of hours before practice later that morning.