Gordon

The Cingular Wireless team didn't exactly kick off the second half of the NASCAR Winston Cup season with a bang last weekend at Daytona. Well, we did get it kicked off with a "bang" exiting the pits after another driver plowed into the front of the Cingular Wireless Chevrolet and destroyed our chance of a strong finish. We always put a great deal of preparation into restrictor-plate races, massaging and finessing our race cars to make them as aerodynamic as possible. We take them to the wind tunnels to make sure the air runs over them as smoothly as possibly. When a hole or any damage is created on the front end of the car, it kills the car's ability to run with the draft.

We had done everything the right way and had a very strong race car last week at Daytona. We practiced well and qualified in the fourth position. Heavy rain all weekend really shook up the schedule and cheated us out of a lot of practice time, so we hit the track Saturday evening with just four practice laps and two qualifying laps under our belts. But the Cingular car was still very strong and we moved into the third position after the first lap. We pitted under caution on lap 19 for fuel only, but when I began driving the car out of the pit box, Kurt Busch drove into the right-front fender of the Cingular Wireless Chevrolet.

There was nothing I could do but hang on for the big spin out on pit road. Busch was at fault because he cut into his pit box too early and hit our car. When he did, his car pushed the Cingular Wireless Chevrolet into the No. 26, pitted directly in front of us. A crew member on the No. 26 was slightly injured in the incident. I'm getting pretty tired of getting into it with Busch on the race track.

Team Cingular immediately pushed the car back into the pit box and began making repairs to the front nose. We knew our chances of a strong finish were gone because race cars cannot run well in the draft with any damage. Nevertheless, we still needed to repair the car and finish the race so we could hopefully pick up some positions on other cars later. It was pretty much a very boring race for me after that -- I just made laps by myself and tried to pick up some positions. We crossed the finish line in the 29th position.

But we're trying to put all that behind us now, go to Chicagoland and start with a clean slate. Before we head to Chicago, though, we're testing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Tuesday and Wednesday in preparation for The Brickyard 400 next month. We're taking two cars that have already been run this year but have been reworked. Hopefully we'll have something good to report from Indianapolis.

The next challenge for the Cingular team is Chicagoland, a track that the Winston Cup circuit has visited only once before. I group Chicagoland in the same category as tracks like Las Vegas, Kansas and Charlotte. They're all about a mile-and-a-half but not terribly banked. I guess Chicagoland is more banked than Charlotte or the others but it doesn't really feel that way to me in the race car. I don't know if it's because it's a wider track or what. Chicago is a very fast track because it's new and new asphalt is very smooth and has a lot of grip. That makes for a very exciting race for the fans but a little nerve-wracking for the drivers.

I had a good run going last year at Chicagoland in the No. 7 car and was running in the top 10 until we lost a water line. I think we'll run well this year in the Cingular Wireless Chevrolet. My crew chief Kevin Hamlin led Kevin Harvick to a win there last year so we'll have his knowledge to build on. We share a lot of information at Richard Childress Racing about the past races and setups. That's the purpose of a multi-car team. The notes are up on the board for all of us to look at, to touch and feel. So, hopefully we'll be able to repeat what Hamlin and Harvick did last year.

We've got to watch our right-front tires very carefully at Chicagoland. That's the race that Mike Skinner blew a tire on the No. 31 car and got beat up so badly. The Cingular car needs to be set up pretty neutral so it's not hard on the right-front tire. If the car is tight, it wears on the right-front pretty hard. As the car compresses in the corner, it gains more camber which wears, out that right-front tire and will eventually lead to a blown tire.

Chicagoland is a fourth-gear track and we don't shift. From what I remember last year, the groove was on the bottom of the track. You go into turn one a little high, make sure you've got the car down on the white line all the way around Turns 1 and 2. You must lift at Chicago -- it's definitely not a wide-open race track. You can run a little harder through Turns 3 and 4 but not wide-open. If we put all that together, I think we'll have a good weekend at Chicago.

We really need a strong finish soon to pull ourselves back up in the points chase. The Cingular team had moved back into the top 25 after Sears Point and looked like we were headed back up. But that pit road incident at Daytona knocked us back to where we were before. We haven't lost confidence that we'll get it back, though. We've got a terrific bunch of guys with great attitudes and work ethics. We'll get to where we need to be and hopefully it will start at Chicago this weekend.

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.