Martinsville: Robby Gordon preview

Notes:

* Harrah's back -- Robby Gordon Motorsports will run chassis Nos. 104 (primary) and 103 at Martinsville with Harrah's as the primary sponsor and Jim Beam and Menards associate sponsors

* On the bright side -- Despite the fact RGM has had a difficult start to the 2005 campaign, the team remains optimistic that its performance will take a significant turn for the better, and will move into the top 35 in owner's points with a few good finishes. RGM is 40th in owner's points, 145 behind 35th position

* No lack of effort -- RGM continues to test and prepare for the next 31 races on the 2005 schedule, having testing at both Texas Motor Speedway on March 29 and Greenville (S.C) Pickens Speedway (April 7)

* Compounding the impound -- Neither the Advance Auto Parts 500 at Martinsville or the Samsung/Radio Shack 500 at Texas next week is an "impound race," therefore, the field will have the opportunity to change from qualifying to race set ups, which theoretically should be an advantage to those teams -- like RGM -- that are outside the top 35 in owner's points

* Stay within yourself -- The impound procedure bit RGM at Bristol, not because the rule is unjust, rather, because the team may have been too good too fast Friday morning. One of the quickest cars early in the practice session in qualifying trim, the team decided to spend the majority of its pre-qualifying practice session working on race set ups, and then failed to adequately tighten the car back up for qualifying. Loose is not fast at Bristol, and as a result, Gordon was not able to cut a fast lap. "Lesson learned," Gordon said.

Robby Gordon's Quotes on Martinsville and Bristol:

"Missing the race at Bristol hurt for a bunch of reasons, but the thing that hurts the most is that I know we were one of the better cars there, and we didn't have an opportunity to show our sponsors or fans that we're a threat. Menard gave us plenty of motor, we had a great car and our pit crew has been working hard to get even better. Then we went out and basically shot ourselves in the foot by spending the majority of our practice time working on race set ups. At the time we felt that was the best strategy and in hindsight we were wrong. We're way better than we've shown, and that's what hurts the most. Looking back we should have done a few things to the car that would have allowed us to keep it comfortable in qualifying; then worked on it during the race to get it good for the late stages. As they say -- live and learn.

"This weekend at Martinsville is a different situation. Everyone will be on the same page since this isn't an impound race. Martinsville can be a tough place to get a handle on, and given that we haven't run there before as a team, my experience will be the thing we'll have to rely on the most. We've made so much progress as a unit since the start of the year, and now is the time that we must start showing it. Obviously we're not expecting to win races every week, but we are good enough to be competitive and finish races on the lead lap. Once that starts to happen, we'll start thinking about wins. We have a lot of support from a lot of people, most notably our four primary sponsors including Jim Beam, Harrah's, Menard's and Fruit of the Loom, and they should be up front."

-rgm-