Race 2 Win: Coca-Cola 600 - Robby Gordon Notes

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Coca-Cola 600 - Robby Gordon Notes

Robby Gordon
Team Cingular
Event Preview Fact Sheet

Event/Date: Coca-Cola 600/May 30, 2004
Venue: Lowe’s Motor Speedway (LMS)

NOTES:

This Week’s Race Car at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (chassis No. 116) has been entered in nine races since the beginning of the 2003 season with eight out of the nine runs concluding inside the top 25 and twice inside the top 10. The car has run in only one race so far this year at California Speedway where Gordon finished just outside the top 10 in 12th place. The tracks in 2003 included Las Vegas (fin. 23rd in March), Martinsville (fin. 21st in April), Michigan (fin. 22nd and sixth in June and August respectively), Indianapolis (fin. sixth in August), Kansas and Atlanta (fin. 25th and 21st in October respectively), and Homestead (fin. 30th in November).

Seek Gordon’s thoughts at LMS … Robby Gordon will be the featured guest at the CT Communications Pole Night media luncheon noon to 1 p.m., Tues., May 25, at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway media center. Gordon will discuss the upcoming weekend of racing at LMS, as well as his plans to run his third-consecutive “Double,” by competing in both the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 all in the same day on May 30.

Double Duty preparations continue … This week, Gordon returned to Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) Sunday to continue practicing for this weekend’s Indy 500. Gordon returned to Charlotte from IMS Monday afternoon and will return to Indy one more time, Wednesday evening, before returning to Indy on the eve of the 500 Saturday night. Gordon will be back to North Carolina Thursday afternoon to practice and qualify the Cingular Wireless Chevrolet for the Coca-Cola 600.

To be the best … Gordon and the No. 31 Cingular Wireless team tested at Lowe’s Motor Speedway Tues., May 11, to prepare for the upcoming Coca-Cola 600 weekend.

Indy 500 update … Robby Gordon accepted a four-lap, 10-mile qualifying speed average of 216.522 mph in a rain-delayed qualifying effort Saturday, May 15, for the 88th Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Driving his self-owned Meijer/Coca-Cola Dallara-Chevrolet, Gordon turned laps of 217.101 mph, 216.969 mph, 216.600 mph and 215.426 mph. – M. Knight, Meijer/R. Gordon PR, 05/15/04

Third time could be a charm … This weekend will be Gordon’s third consecutive “Double Duty,” and fifth “Double” in his career. It also will be his 10th Indy 500 appearance. He was an Indy rookie in 1993. His best previous starting position was third, in 2001 and 2003. His best previous finish was fourth, in 1999, when he led 28 laps but ran out of fuel on lap 198. He has a total of five top-10 finishes. – M. Knight, Meijer/R. Gordon PR, 05/15/04

Up and away … Travel time from Indianapolis to Charlotte is approximately two hours. Gordon is working with Textron on his travel arrangements, including transport using Bell Helicopters and Citation Jets. – M. Knight, Meijer/R. Gordon PR, 05/15/04

Gordon speeding downtown … Gordon will take a break from his hectic double-duty schedule to head into downtown Charlotte, N.C., to sign autographs and meet with fans during the SPEED Street Festivities at the Cingular Wireless Pit Stop display on Tryon St., between 2nd and 3rd St., from 6 to 8 p.m. Fri., May 28.

Tune in …The Coca-Cola 600 will be broadcast live 5:30 p.m. EDT Sunday, May 30, on FOX, PRN and XM Radio. Qualifying for the Coca-Cola 600 will broadcast live 7:10 p.m. EDT Thursday, May 27, on SPEED, PRN and XM Radio.

Robby Gordon on the Coca-Cola 600: “I am really looking forward to the Coca-Cola 600 and one reason is because I am thankful the guys on my team didn’t listen to me about which car to run this past weekend in the All-Star Challenge. I wanted to run the Cingular Wireless Chevrolet we are going to race this weekend, but Chris [Andrews] and the rest of the guys were afraid something would happen like what did happen Saturday night, so they didn’t want to take any chances in damaging a good race car. We have a much better car in the truck ready to go for Sunday night and that is saying a lot. I actually had a strong car this past Saturday night, but didn’t get much time to showcase it before getting run over.”

R. Gordon on doing the Indy 500/Coca-Cola 600 'double': "At Indy, a lot of the work is before the green flag waves, because if the car is set up right and handling well, then that's half the battle … If you get your car set up right like we had in 1999 and 2002, it's almost more mental than physical. Even though you pull a lot of Gs in the middle of the corner, it's a very mental race. I've been able to do it, slide over to the Coca-Cola 600 and run competitive there, as well. As far as being tired, I still do Baja, which is 1,000 miles in a car all by myself. At least with two races like this, there is a break in between and I do take fluids intravenously between the two events. I feel like I’m in better physical shape than I ever have been." – M. Knight, Meijer/R. Gordon PR

R. Gordon on racing in the Indy 500 for the 10th time: "I've always enjoyed competing at Indianapolis. As a young child growing up, I always wanted to be able to compete there. I've been very fortunate the last nine times to compete and to do it competitively. I thought if we were going to do a 2004 program, we needed to try to align all the same stars we had back in 1999, when we came so close to winning the Indianapolis 500, so that is what I worked to do." – M. Knight, Meijer/R. Gordon PR

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