Gordon

That's it for off-weekends in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. It's back to the grind.

Now we go straight through for the next 20 races until we finish up at Homestead, Fla. We're hitting the halfway mark of the season and everyone is looking at the goals they set at the beginning of the year. The Cingular Wireless team hasn't met all of those goals yet, but we've laid a good foundation. We still plan on winning a race before the season is out and we're beginning to climb back up in the standings. We really thought we'd be somewhere in the top-15 at this point, but we had some bad luck and made some mistakes that hurt those chances. But if you look at the past 10 or so races, you really see a lot of improvement and we've still got a lot of races left. We haven't given up on those goals and still intend on meeting them.

I'm fortunate I love racing enough that I'm not really worn out at the halfway mark in the season. I have fun racing and don't really look at it as a job that I have to keep going to for the next 20 races. But I really enjoyed my time off last week in California and Arizona. I met up with some buddies in Parker, Ariz., on the river and we boated and just hung out. I also went back to Orange, Calif., to my hometown to see family and friends for a few days. I'm pretty rested, recharged and ready to go for the rest of the season.

Stop No. 1 in the 20-race stretch is the night race at the 2½-mile Daytona International Speedway. The name "Daytona" always makes everyone think of "the big one," but the Cingular team was lucky enough to somewhat avoid it in the Daytona 500 this year. Our teammate Kevin Harvick got in it pretty bad, but we managed to drive through the infield grass to avoid it. But that little trip through the grass damaged the front valance and really hurt the aerodynamics of our car. We did get back up to ninth with less than 10 laps to go and then I let another car take the air off of the Cingular Wireless Chevrolet on our high side and we spun on the track and hit the wall.

At Daytona, you've got to be around at the end. I don't care where you are running in the beginning or middle of the race. Heck, you can be dead last with 30 laps to go and still have a shot at winning. That's not the case anywhere but Talladega, Ala., and Daytona. But you also have to be smart on the track. I don't know if it makes a difference if you're in the front or the back when trying to avoid the "big wreck." The key is avoiding the melee and trying not to be involved so you have a good shot at making a final run for the checkered flag.

	Robby Gordon has five top-20 finishes in his last seven races.

Daytona is one of the tracks that tends to separate good teams from the others. Success at Daytona basically comes down to having a good team -- you can't just hold your breath and hang onto the steering wheel for the whole race there. Not many teams have a better track record on the superspeedways than Richard Childress Racing. RCR has had great success at Daytona and Kevin Hamlin has some awesome notes to work from. Experience is really going to be a huge factor and I don't have a whole lot of it on superspeedways, but I've learned more and more each time I've raced there. ust like at Dover, Del., earlier this year -- I'd only raced there one time before and we ended up with a top-10 finish. I'm learning to be more patient, listen to my crew chief and try to finish each race as best as we can instead of going full-out the entire time.

I've raced at Daytona a few times in Winston Cup cars, but actually have more seat time there in other series. I finished second in February in the Rolex 24 driving for Riley and Scott Racing and Jim Matthews Racing. I won the GTO/GTS class in the Rolex 24 at Daytona from 1990 to '93. Additionally, I finished second in the 1996 IROC race and third in the 1997 IROC race at Daytona. Not to mention that I got my first Winston Cup start in the 1991 Daytona 500. So, I've got a lot of memories at Daytona, but am still looking for a really special Winston Cup memory, something along the lines of a win.

We're taking a brand-new car to Daytona this week -- one that we've never raced before. The Cingular guys have worked their tails off on preparing it and tested it at the wind tunnel last month. It's a pretty good car and hopefully we'll be able to tune on it enough at the track to make it a very competitive, race-winning car. We're looking to kick off the second half of the season with a huge bang under the lights at Daytona. Hopefully that will set the stage for the Cingular team for the end of the year.

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.