Allstate 400 at the Brickyard - Robby Gordon Notes

ROBBY GORDON
NO. 7 FRUIT OF THE LOOM CHEVROLET
QUICK FACTS – 12th BRICKYARD 400 (8/7/05)
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

21st event of the 36-race 2005 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series schedule – Speedway, Ind.

If recent history is any indication, ROBBY GORDON seems headed for a good weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In each of the last three years, GORDON has begun the month of August with a top-10 finish. In 2002, he placed eighth at Indy. The following season, he was sixth at The Brickyard. Last year, GORDON placed seventh in the Aug. 1 race at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway. This weekend’s Allstate 400 is the first Cup Series race of August and marks the first of 16 straight weekends of competition that will culminate in the season-ending Ford 400 on Nov. 20 in Homestead, Fla.

This is the fourth of nine races this year in which Fruit of the Loom will be the primary sponsor of GORDON’s No. 7 Chevrolet. The company’s remaining Cup Series races will be Sept. 4 at Fontana, Calif.; Oct. 2 in Talladega, Ala.; Oct. 23 at Martinsville, Va.; Nov. 6 in Justin, Texas and Nov. 13 at Avondale, Ariz.

GORDON will run chassis No. 106 in the Allstate 400. It’s been raced just twice this season, with both outings coming at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. On May 21, he finished seventh in the NEXTEL Open and on May 29, he was 27th in the Coca-Cola 600. In addition, GORDON tested with this car last month at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

With top-15 qualifying efforts for four of his last six races, GORDON expects another strong performance during time trials at Indy. His average start in those six most recent races is 16th, a full 10 positions better than his season-long average for 2005.

GORDON is one of just 11 drivers who have completed all 481 laps of the last three races at Indianapolis; the others being Dale Earnhardt Jr., Bill Elliott, Jeff Gordon, Jeff Green, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, Rusty Wallace and Michael Waltrip.