Gordon

Getting sideways in a desert race is second nature to me and I think all that experience probably helped me bring the No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet home in the top-20 Sunday at Dover International Speedway.

We had a very strong run most of the day. Our qualifying effort (28th) wasn't all that great, but Team Cingular was 23rd when the first caution came out on lap 32. We moved into the top 20 only eight laps later and into the top 15 by lap 61. We ran as high as 13th (on lap 300) and were set for a top-15 finish when I brought the Cingular car in for a final pit stop on lap 318.

The car's handling was a little tight at the beginning of the day but went to a little loose throughout the race as my crew chief, Kevin Hamlin, and the crew tried to hit on the best setup for me. On that final pit stop, Hamlin called for the tire specialist to take a half-pound of air pressure out of the right-rear tire, normally a very minor adjustment to loosen up the car. We thought we'd be set for the shootout to the finish with that adjustment. However, the Cingular car got extremely loose and it was all I could do just to keep the car off the wall.

Something must have happened to the car. Either a spring popped out of the purge or something like that. That's the loosest I've ever been with a half-pound of air adjustments. I've never been that loose in my life and not wrecked the car, so I was happy just get home in one piece and score some points. We ended up 17th, which was pretty disappointing as we thought we'd end up about 13th or 15th. But we maintained our 20th position in the standings and are just 22 points behind the No. 77 car (Dave Blaney) in 19th.

Now we switch gears from the Monster Mile to the one-year-old Kansas Speedway. Kansas is the track last year where I permanently began filling in for Mike Skinner when he stepped out of the No. 31 car after Dover to have surgery. I'd also subbed for him earlier in the summer at Loudon, Pocono, Indianapolis and Watkins Glen when he got hurt at Chicagoland. Kansas was a pretty good track for the No. 31 team last year -- we finished 14th.

The Cingular team has done really well on flat tracks, but lately we've gotten much better on the 1½-mile tracks like Kansas. We finished eighth at Chicago and 16th at Charlotte, but that was after I'd just run 500 miles in the Indy 500 before flying to Charlotte to drive another 600 miles. Kansas reminds me a lot of Las Vegas and California -- it's a flatter track. It's not quite as banked as Chicago, and definitely not as banked as Atlanta or Charlotte. Although Kansas has similarities to a lot of tracks, characteristics like how rough the bumps and the track are will dictate what kind of springs and shocks we run.

I think the Cingular Wireless team has put together a good package for Kansas this weekend. My teammate Jeff Green tested at Kansas a couple of weeks ago and said he came out of there with some good stuff. Green has been running well lately, so if Kevin and I can build on that we should be in pretty good shape.

	Robby Gordon is close to completing his first full season with Richard Childress Racing.

Getting into Turn 1 at Kansas is easier than getting into Turn 3 because it tightens up on the backstretch and when you get halfway through Turns 3 and 4, it starts to open up for the banking and you don't have to give the car as much steering wheel. I don't remember the track having much grip last year and I remember it being a bottom-groove track. But the Busch cars are racing Saturday and they should lay down some more rubber and help us get a better groove Sunday. I think we'll see two grooves Sunday, which will make for much better racing for the fans in the stands.

There's a good chance that the Kansas race will be won based on pit strategy and fuel mileage. A lot of these types of tracks have been won in that fashion lately. Look at Chicago -- it was a fuel mileage and pit strategy race in the end. Kevin used excellent pit strategy at Chicago and we got a top-10 out of it. My teammate Kevin Harvick won the race. Our engine program at RCR is also very good and Kansas asks a lot of the motors. If we can pool our engine strength, fuel mileage and pit strategy, we should have a good day at Kansas. The RCR cars were pretty good at Kansas last year and we think we've learned a lot since then to help us come out of there with some strong finishes.

We've accomplished a lot this season with the Cingular team but haven't met all of our goals. I think when we left Loudon last November we thought we'd have an honest run for the championship this season. I'm a little disappointed where we're sitting now in the points. Every week, we've been consistent and run in the top 10 or top-15. We'd like to be in the top 10 after Homestead, but I honestly don't think we can get much higher than 17th right now unless something drastic happens to the cars in front of us. But a top-10 finish is definitely a good goal for the Cingular team next season.

We've got eight races remaining this season. It's nice to think that the off-season is right around the corner, but we drivers always miss racing when the season ends. But right now we're trying to look at those eight races as eight opportunities to win races and gain points. It's just one week at a time in this sport and we've only got a few more chances left this season.

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