Gordon

Sunday's race at Sears Point Raceway was a classic example of Murphy's Law for the Cingular Wireless team. If it could go wrong, I almost think it did. We had a great car Saturday during Happy Hour, but I think someone ran off with our car that evening by the look of things Sunday. I guess it's just that we were expecting such great things out of the race that we were disappointed when they didn't go our way.

I actually had a few extra days out in California before my team got out there. I'm from Southern California, but have friends all over the state. I flew out there after the Michigan race and visited some family and buddies of mine. Then I took a day to test my Baja truck in the desert. Then I headed to the beautiful wine country of Sonoma for a weekend I always look forward to each season.

The Cingular team took a brand new car to Sears Point that we tested at a road course in Kershaw, S.C., a couple of weeks ago. We were pretty good in Friday's practice and had one of the fastest cars during that time.

Our qualifying lap was pretty good Friday and earned us a ninth-place starting spot. I'd like to have had a little better lap, but I had a hard time getting the tires heated up and worked in. I didn't get out of Turn 11, the hairpin turn, very well the last time around and just didn't have high enough tire temperatures through the first couple of corners.

Saturday was a pretty busy day with the early morning practice and then Happy Hour. (Crew chief) Kevin Hamlin and the guys worked so hard with me because we really wanted to feel confident about our car. We ran some awesome lap times Saturday in practice and just wish we could have done that Friday in qualifying. We would have won the pole easily if we could have done in qualifying what we did Saturday in practice. But we figured out where we messed up in qualifying and worked hard on trying not to let that happen again. It was a set-up issue and we thought we fixed it. We ran a lot of laps, we found out how our car was going to be on the long runs and it didn't seem like I was burning off the tires too bad, so I thought we'd be in pretty good shape for the race Sunday.

To be honest, Sunday turned out to be a huge disappointment for us. The Cingular team began Sunday morning a bit on the "jittery" side, as many other teams told us we were expected to win the race. As much as you don't want to admit it, that tends to put a bit more pressure on a team. But everyone calmed down and concentrated on the task at hand. We quickly began picking off spots when the race started and moved into fourth by lap four. The car was tight and sliding all over the track, but we still posted the fastest lap times of anyone on the track. Several of the teams were experiencing similar problems, probably because it was much warmer Sunday than it had been Saturday when we set up the car. Team Cingular pitted under green on lap 33 for four tires, fuel and air pressure adjustments. The guys gave me a great pit stop and we went back out in the second position behind Tony Stewart.

	Robby Gordon finished second last year at Sears Point.

We stayed in the second spot until lap 39, when we pitted under caution with Tony to make adjustments to the car and hopefully gain a fuel mileage advantage for later in the race. But several teams stayed out on the track and we lost a lot of track position, dropping to 27th, and never really made it back up. But we still posted the fastest laps on the track and were able to work our way back through traffic and into 15th by lap 80. We made our final pit stop under caution on lap 86, taking four fresh tires, fuel and chassis adjustments to loosen up the car, but once again, several teams stayed out and we fell to 23rd. We moved back into 15th by lap 99 and with quick lap times, picked off a spot per lap to finish 11th.

The Cingular team had a decent run but we made some bad calls in the pits -- that was the main thing that hurt us. Track position was so crucial and if you got too far in the back, it was hard to get it back. We probably shouldn't have pitted that last time or earlier when we tried to create a fuel mileage advantage for ourselves. It's just disappointing to be that good in Happy Hour and not be the same way during the race. But we got a respectable finish and moved up to 24th in the points, which we really needed. I was still extremely disappointed and distraught when the race was over. I tried to concentrate on what we learned that we could take from Sears Point with us and look ahead to Daytona. But first -- our off weekend!

As soon as the race was over and everyone cleared out of the garage, I headed for the airport and flew back to my hometown of Orange, Calif. The NASCAR Winston Cup Series has next weekend off to relax for the final time this season. Then it's 20 straight races until the season is over at Homestead, Fla. That's a long time, so I am taking full advantage of the last free time I have and spend it with my family and friends in California. I'm probably going to stay out here all week and fly straight to Florida next week in time for the Pepsi 400 under the lights at Daytona.

Most of the guys on the Cingular team have this week off, as well, and have lots of things planned. Some of them are going to the beach or on cruises with their families, some are driving to see their parents, some are just working around the house and seeing their wives and kids because they never get to do that. Everyone has worked so hard this year and the series just gets busier each season that it's hard to find any down time. But for the time being, we're all trying not to think too much about anything and just enjoy ourselves because it will be back to the grind before we know it.

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.