Gordon

We've all heard the saying "everything is bigger in Texas." For the No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet team, that everything meant tire problems, weather glitches and disappointment last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.

I steered the Cingular Wireless Chevy onto the track in Friday's morning practice at Texas, but it got really loose on the second lap and I brushed the wall in Turn 2. I brought the car back into the garage and the guys spent a good while repairing it. They got it back in good shape again and we went back out for a few more laps.

It was a little tight so the guys changed both front springs and made some air pressure adjustments. The car was still too tight and it was like the front-end was coming out from under me in Turn 2. We continued to work on the handling and got the car ready to qualify. But we'd lost a lot of precious practice time doing cosmetic work that could have been used to improve the car's handling before qualifying.

We went out for our first of two qualifying laps and busted out a great lap, especially considering the limited practice time we'd had. Team Cingular was still allowed another qualifying lap and I really went for the pole on that one. But I got anything but the pole. I got the wall.

Before qualifying started, I thought I could handle the car a little freer and the crew gave me what I asked for. I guess I didn't need a freer car. The Cingular Chevy came out from under me and spun around, backing into the wall, coming back down the track and hitting the wall again. The car was total junk and the guys had to pull the back-up car out. But despite that, we were able to use our first-lap qualifying time and ended up 24th-fastest.

I had to try to smile when it was all over. You have to suck it up and look at the bright side of things. We went for it and the car just didn't stick to the track. I knew Richard Childress Racing prepares awesome cars and I didn't have a doubt that our back-up car would every bit as strong as our primary. It would need to be because we would have to drop to the rear of the field when the green flag waved at the beginning of the race because we were driving a back-up car.

It rained all day Saturday and NASCAR cancelled our first practice and our Happy Hour session. That situation always leaves the crew chiefs guessing what the weather will be like on race day and trying to set the car up the best they can. There was definitely a lot of "educated guesswork" going on in the Cingular garage because we hadn't even had one lap of practice in our back-up car. Friday was sunny and fairly warm and we knew Sunday would probably be cool and overcast.

But Sunday was a total wash-out and the race was postponed until Monday morning. When Monday rolled around, it was warm and overcast. Those conditions usually tend to tighten up cars and that was the case with most of the 43 teams.

	Robby Gordon, left, is in his first full season driving for car owner Richard Childress, right.

When the race first started, the Cingular Wireless Chevrolet was loose entering the corners and tight exiting. NASCAR threw the competition caution on lap 36 for the teams to check their tires and make adjustments, since we had such limited practice. The Cingular pit crew gave me two fresh tires and chassis adjustments to help loosen up the car. Those changes helped the loose condition heading into the turns and I moved into the 16th spot by lap 45. But the car was still tight and when the runs became long, green-flag runs, we went a lap down to the leader. We struggled to remain near the leader in case the caution came out and we could get back on the lead lap. We did hang with the leader pretty well but couldn't ever quite get there.

But in true Texas fashion, we blew a tire slowing down to come onto pit road on lap 236. I had just let off the gas to bring the Cingular Wireless Chevrolet in for service when 'pow,' it just blew out and sent me into the outside wall. There was no indication the tire was going down or anything. The car was tight most of the day, so I'm not blaming the tires. The warmer weather made a lot of the cars tight. The push puts more wear on the right-front tire and eventually blows it out.

That hurt pretty bad, to tell the truth. The car was damaged so severely that we just retired it for the day. There weren't enough laps left in the race to allow the crew time enough time to make the necessary repairs. We ended up with the 41st position.

It's time to change gears, put that disappointment behind us and head for Martinsville. Initially, it seemed like I always ran well at the mile-and-a-half tracks but now our performance is not up to par at those tracks. But the Cingular Wireless team is getting better at the short tracks.

We qualified on the front row at Bristol and the car ran well all day -- we just had some extracurricular circumstances that didn't help our finish. We ran well at Phoenix last year and at New Hampshire. Neither of those are really considered 'short tracks,' but they're close. I've got a lot of confidence in my crew chief, Gil Martin, and I'm sure we'll have a strong car at Martinsville just like we did at Bristol and at Loudon last year. We're taking the same car to Martinsville that we sat on the outside pole with at Bristol. Hopefully we'll come out of there with a better finish.

Martinsville is a great track because the racing is so tight and the quarters so close. Even though I was a little too close to the action, I'd have to say Bristol was definitely one of the most exciting races so far this season. It's hard not to let your emotions get the best of you when you've got guys beating and banging on you all day. Your patience is about shot by the end. Not only do drivers have to control their cars for 500 laps at Martinsville, they've got to control their tempers. Sometimes that is the biggest challenge of all.

We're about 20 percent through the season right now and the team definitely isn't where we thought we'd be at this time. Had it not been for small incidents here and there that really added up, we could easily have been sitting in the top 15 now. I can look at most of the tracks and say we were competitive but just got caught up in bad circumstances. We're all very disappointed on the No. 31 team but we're not down. The key is to keep your confidence, stick together and find the solutions and do what it takes to get better. We're all working together with Richard to make sure that happens.

Robby Gordon drives the No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. He will be providing a diary to ESPN.com throughout the Winston Cup season.