Gordon

Last February, when the season officially kicked off, seems like decades ago. Lowe's Racing has had many ups and downs this season, and we're determined to keep on striving for the positive stuff and learning from the negative.

Robby Gordon and the No. 31 Lowe's team had a minor setback last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. We went to Atlanta armed with what we thought were good notes from which to build a strong baseline for our car.

Our teammate Jeff Green and the No. 30 America Online team tested at Atlanta a couple of weeks ago and compiled some good information. Plus, our other teammate Kevin Harvick and the No. 29 GM Goodwrench Service Plus team won the March race at Atlanta in a photo finish. So, we thought our three teams would unload our cars and be pretty good from the get-go Friday. That was easier said than done.

In Friday morning's practice, the Lowe's Chevrolet was a little tight getting into Turn 1, but a little too loose in the exit. We changed both front springs and sent Robby back out on the track. We seemed to be fighting the same problem Harvick and Green were having -- a loose car.

In the final two runs of practice, Robby said the Lowe's Chevy became very inconsistent, handling loosely one minute, then tightly the next. Practice ended and we reviewed our notes, deciding to change the shocks and make additional chassis adjustments before Robby's qualifying attempt.

When we made our two qualifying laps that afternoon, Robby said the Lowe's Chevrolet was loose all the way around the track. Our lap time wasn't fast enough to lock in a top-36 starting spot and neither was Harvick's. Actually, several teams in the top 10 in points didn't make the field on time and were forced to take a provisional starting position, including the No. 29 team.

Due to the high number of top teams using provisionals, the Lowe's team didn't get a spot and failed to make the race. We just couldn't believe it. But in NASCAR, there's no time to stand around and wonder, so we loaded up the truck and returned home to North Carolina, eager to tackle this weekend's race at New Hampshire with renewed enthusiasm.

Robby's first race with the Lowe's team was at Loudon in July when he filled in for Mike Skinner after Mike broke his ankle at Chicago. The car's handling was a bit off at the beginning of the race and due to long, green-flag runs, we went down one lap early. But we made some chassis adjustments and Robby drove the car really hard and got his lap back.

Unfortunately, we pitted too early under caution and were penalized one lap, losing the lap Robby had just worked so hard to regain. But he continued to concentrate on running good, smooth laps and we had a great car when everything was said and done. Our finishing position just didn't reflect that because we were one lap down.

We're taking the same car to Loudon that Jeff drove to a top-10 finish at Homestead, Fla., while Robby was racing in the Baja 1000 two weeks ago. It's been a long, hard year for everyone at Richard Childress Racing and the season is just hours away from wrapping up. We've made huge strides with the No. 31 team in the past few weeks and we're doing everything we can to cap off the season with a strong finish.