Gordon

Everyone who grows up wanting to race cars for a living dreams of some day winning the Indianapolis 500 or the Daytona 500. I know I did. But winning the Coca-Cola 600 is also a huge accomplishment in the Winston Cup Series. We just witnessed some extremely competitive, exciting racing last weekend in The Winston at Lowe's Motor Speedway and the No. 31 Cingular Wireless team had a blast being part of it. But now I've got the opportunity to race in two huge events this weekend and I'm definitely not taking it for granted.

The Indy 500 and the Daytona 500 are the all-star events of Indy Car racing and NASCAR. They're the World Series and the Super Bowl of the two series all rolled into one.

Drivers may say those two events aren't much different than the other weekly races, but that's not exactly true. We go into those two races with a little different attitude and respect. I'm going into the Indy 500 with the attitude that we're going to win this year. That's all there is to it. But that doesn't mean that I don't go into every race trying to win.

We're going to be conservative for part of the race but we're going there for one reason -- to win the race and drink the milk afterward. Then, unlike the other guys, I'll jump into a helicopter and head for Charlotte and the start of the Coca-Cola 600 with the Cingular Wireless team. I can't begin to describe the feeling of cranking up the engine for the start of larger-than-life races like the Indianapolis 500 and hearing the fans scream with excitement of what they're about to witness on the track. It's the most overwhelming feeling.

	Robby Gordon reacts after seeing his Indy qualfiying speed.

When you walk through Gasoline Alley at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, you can't help but think about all the history and prestige at that track. It's unbelievable. And the Daytona 500 is a legend unto itself. The fact that the Daytona 500 kicks off the NASCAR Winston Cup Series each season makes it all that more special because you're all pumped up to see what your team can accomplish that year. Racing was built on races like the Daytona 500, the Indy 500 and The Winston.

The Winston, NASCAR's annual all-star event under the lights at Lowe's Motor Speedway, is all about putting on a great show for the fans. That's what we're there for. I may be biased but I think the No. 31 Cingular Wireless team put on a heck of a show Saturday evening in The Winston. We brought home a seventh-place finish and showed everyone how strong we will be next weekend in the Coca-Cola 600. It was clear very early in the race that we had an awesome car. We gained four spots in the first lap alone and grabbed the top-five by lap 12. I told the crew that the car handled a bit tightly exiting the corners but was overall an awesome race car.

The Winston rules required a four-tire pit stop under green in the first segment and Team Cingular made ours on lap 26, giving me four fresh tires but no chassis adjustments. But the car got a little tight because the balance was off after we didn't give it any more fuel during that pit stop. Sometimes when the fuel tank is low, the car can be thrown off balance and will handle poorly as a result. I dropped to 10th by the end of the first segment but 10th was good enough to advance us to the second segment, as the top 20 cars transferred.

My crew chief, Gil Martin, and the crew went to work between the first and second segments to loosen up the Cingular car by filling the fuel tank, making slight chassis adjustments and giving me four more new tires. We started the second segment from the 10th position and moved into ninth by the time it was over, sending us to the final segment of The Winston. Not too bad for our first time, huh?

For the final time, Team Cingular made slight chassis adjustments, added fuel and gave me four fresh tires for the sprint to the finish. The Winston officials announced a field inversion of all 10 cars, voted on by the fans on NASCAR.com, moving the No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet to the second position for the start of the final segment.

When the green flag waved, we dropped to third behind Tony Stewart and worked hard to pass him, finally putting Stewart in our rearview mirror and took second. However, Team Cingular's shot at the win blew up when Kurt Busch rear-ended us with five laps remaining, sending my car into a wild spin. I held on and didn't hit anything, but ended up with a flat tire and was forced to bring the Cingular Chevy down pit road for new tires.

However, NASCAR assessed the team a penalty for pitting before pit road was opened and sent us to the tail end of the field. I'm a little upset with Busch for spinning out the Cingular Wireless Chevy. I was running behind Stewart and was having a hard time getting around him to take second place because he was so loose. I wanted to give him enough room. Then Tony got sideways and I checked up and Kurt ran me over from behind. It's pretty simple. Then he pretty much admitted it on television.

When the restart was given with four laps remaining, the Cingular Wireless Chevrolet was still one of the strongest cars on the track and we picked off three more positions in the sprint to the checkered flag. We finished The Winston in the seventh position. I'm a bit disappointed with our finish. I thought we would have been in the position to win the deal. I was disappointed because I thought I'd be able to go back to third position after Kurt spun me out and brought out the caution flag. I thought this deal was set up where if a caution came out, you reverted to where you were running before the caution. I had three flat tires then because Kurt turned me all the way down the back straightaway but NASCAR made me go to the back of the field. That's typical of the Cingular team's luck. If we had been able to pull back up front with those fresh tires, we definitely would have had a shot at the win.

It seems like everything I do and get penalized for is OK for everyone else. We sat there Saturday and watched Ryan Newman jump the start, but at Bristol when I jumped the start, NASCAR put me at the back of the pack after a stop-and-go. We'll have to work harder and try not to make any mistakes. But the problem was that it wasn't my mistake. Kurt Busch turned me coming off Turn 2 and I had three flat tires and couldn't go another lap without destroying the Cingular car. So, I came in and they said I pitted too early.

But it was fun to be in the all-star race. What a crazy race. The Cingular team is going to have to work extra hard to get back in it next year. We've got some road courses coming up that hopefully we'll be able to win.

I think we proved to everyone that we're going to be tough next week in the Coca-Cola 600. I think people underestimated us. We went to Charlotte and tested two weeks ago and I told everyone we were pretty good. We ended up third in Happy Hour and were in the position to run second in The Winston or even win it if we could have gotten up there. Going into The Winston last weekend, I felt pretty confident about our car and our chances in the race. We thought we were going to be a tick off in qualifying for The Winston but really good in race trim and we were pretty much right on the money with that.

Now we're taking the same car to the 600 that we raced in The Winston. It was the slowest of the two cars we tested two weeks ago at Charlotte, so we decided to take it to The Winston because the Coca-Cola 600 is worth a little more to us. But now we're going to take it to the 600 because it ran so well in The Winston. Once we made a couple of slight adjustments, the car was a rocket. Plus, it makes a world of difference to race a car that you've already got information on. We made it all the way to the third segment of The Winston in this car and have a lot of notes on it.

	“	My crew chief, Gil Martin, and the crew went to work between the first and second segments to loosen up the Cingular car by filling the fuel tank, making slight chassis adjustments and giving me four more new tires. We started the second segment from the 10th position and moved into ninth by the time it was over, sending us to the final segment of The Winston. Not too bad for our first time, huh? ”
		— Gordon

We saw what the Cingular Wireless Chevrolet is going to do on long runs, so I feel pretty confident that we'll have a great race car and know how to adjust on it when it needs a little help. We'd be shooting ourselves in the foot to take the other car. But if something happened and we needed the backup, I am confident that it's a good car, as well.

I've got a lot of travel this week. I went to Indy Sunday morning and got a few laps in with our race engine and setup. Wednesday night I'll head back to Indy for the driver's meeting first thing Thursday morning. We'll have Carburetion Day Thursday at Indy and we'll probably do about 20 miles that day. Then we'll wipe the car down, put some wax on it and put it away.

Sunday is going to be a huge day for me but I think I'm ready for it. I've been working with Richard Childress Racing's trainer a bit and he's given me plenty of fluids and special energy drinks to prepare me. But I've been sick with a cold for about a week ago and put on about four pounds because I couldn't work out much. But I still feel good and healthy. Getting a good night's sleep on Saturday is going to be very important for me and the RCR team doctor is going to fly from Indy to Charlotte with me to make sure I get IVs if needed.

I've run 1,000 miles in the Baja 1000 before and that's pretty much non-stop. The Baja is a survival race and there is no break. But you're not up on the wheel all day in the Baja like you are in the Winston Cup or the Indy race. The Coca-Cola 600 is also a survival race. It's a survival race for the cars because if anything on the car is going to blow up or fall off, you usually see it happen in the 600. But it's also a survival race for the drivers because it's such a long race and it's usually hot at Charlotte, although we didn't see that last week in The Winston. It's hard for drivers to feel good for the whole 600 laps and to be up on the wheel if the race goes green for a long time. That's a lot of laps around there but it's all about your mind set and how well you can keep your attention trained on what you're doing.

I have a really great shot at winning both the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 for Cingular. Team Menard is on top of their game on the Indy car side. They've had some strong runs this season and have been knocking on the door of a win. When you put my experience in the Indy 500 in there with John Menard's team and Richard Childress's experience as an owner, you can't go wrong. Indy is a special place and tradition has made that race. We're going there for one reason -- to win the race. I started on the front row at Indy last year and I've basically got the same team I had in 1999 for the Indy 500. I was leading on the next-to-the-last lap when I ran out of fuel. I hope to be in the same position on the last lap but this time I plan to have enough fuel to make it to the checkered flag.

People keep asking me if I'm worn out yet. Yeah, it's been very busy this month but I wouldn't trade it for anything. It has been so much fun for me to go back and forth between the Indy car and the Cingular Chevy on the Cup side. I enjoy both teams and both teams have the same goal of performance in mind. I want to win both races and we know we can do it. I've got the right people and equipment lined up. It's just a matter of putting the pieces together on Sunday, and of course, praying it doesn't rain at Indy. But we're planning to win both and we're going to give it our best shot.

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.