Gordon

With just four races left in the season, the Cingular Wireless team is in desperate need of a victory before we leave Homestead-Miami Speedway in November. We had a car that I think was capable of winning Sunday at Martinsville Speedway and we ran up front the first 200 laps of the race. But a call in the pits bit us and we couldn't ever get back up through the field.

Track position has been a key factor in most of the NASCAR Winston Cup races this season and Sunday's race at Martinsville Speedway was no different. Unfortunately, the No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet team saw how track position can work for and against us Sunday in the 500-lap race.

The Cingular Wireless Chevrolet was awesome from the start of the race and we were in the eighth position by lap 43. Knowing that tire wear was going to be a factor on the newly grooved race track, we pitted under caution on lap 44 for four tires, fuel and air pressure adjustments to loosen up the car's handling. Although the guys did a great job in the pits, we lost some spots because not all teams pitted and some took only two tires. We returned to the track in the 12th position.

Crew chief Kevin Hamlin's four-tire call was a good one because we worked our way right through the field and were fifth by lap 77. We pitted again for four tires and fuel on lap 102. Quick work in the pits gained us two spots and put us in the fourth spot. The car was so good that I didn't even have to drive it hard. I just concentrated on running my line without using up the car too early in the race.

The Cingular Wireless machine continued to be strong and we posted some of the fastest laps on the track. We held the third position by lap 111 and the second by lap 158. The tables turned on Team Cingular on lap 207, though, when we followed leader Tony Stewart into the pits under caution.

Very few teams pitted and we were 19th when the restart was given. All of a sudden we found ourselves stuck in heavy traffic with a car that didn't handle well behind so many other car in "dirty air." I struggled to find a good line for the car while the guys continued to work on the setup and improving the handling. The pit crew continued to give me great pit stops and Kevin Hamlin kept working on the setup. By the end of the race, we worked our way back up to 23rd.

As disappointed as we were with a 23rd-place finish, we have to put it behind us and concentrating on having a car as good at Atlanta this weekend as ours was the first half of the day at Martinsville. We're taking the same car that we ran at Richmond in September. We tested this car at Atlanta the Monday after the Charlotte race because Atlanta has been a challenge for us lately.

	Robby Gordon finished the season 20th in Winston Cup points.

I've really struggled at Atlanta ever since they reconfigured the track a few years ago. I sat on the pole the first two times I raced there -- in the 1990 ARCA race and the 1997 Winston Cup event. But it takes a completely different line to get around the track now than it did back when I won those poles. The biggest thing about running a good line at Atlanta is getting into Turn 1 with the way the banking is laid out there. Turn 1 is what used to be the old Turn 3 before they reconfigured the track. It used to be a smooth transition but now the track just drops into the banking. I've always gotten loose and bottomed out there during qualifying.

When you drive down the backstretch and off into Turn 3, the track looks completely different than Turn 1. From a driver's point of view, it doesn't seem like Turn 3 is banked as much as Turn 1. Plus, there aren't any real bumps getting into 3, but there are some halfway between Turns 3 and 4. The track seems like it flattens out more coming off of turns 3 and 4 than it does exiting 1 and 2.

The Cingular Wireless team tested at Atlanta a couple of weeks ago and came out of there with some good stuff. We were planning on testing Monday and Tuesday but Tuesday got rained out. We have really struggled with our mile-and-a-half program lately. Ever since the officials at Atlanta moved the start/finish line in the reconfiguration, I've had problems with Atlanta. It's not that the new track doesn't fit my driving style, because I love fast race tracks and I like the layout with all the different grooves. But we just haven't found the magic combination that works at Atlanta.

I don't know if it's the body or the engine or what, but we hope we shed some light on the problem at the test. We weren't really going for speed in the test but the handling on the car. We worked on the setup and got it more to my liking and think we'll be pretty good in race and qualifying setup. Our race setup seemed pretty good but it was so cold during the test that it's hard to tell.

With my luck, it will probably be hot and sunny when we go there this weekend and we'll have to run a completely different line than what you can when the track is cool. We worked hard on the balance on the car. We didn't work much on race setup -- no long runs or anything like that. We got rained out there on Tuesday so we didn't get some of the stuff done that we had planned but I think we came away with a good qualifying package. I think we'll be pretty good this weekend because our Atlanta test session and the way to run Atlanta are fresh on my mind.

With just four races left, everyone is looking back on their season and evaluating what they did and didn't accomplish. We've certainly accomplished a lot with the Cingular team this season but we still haven't done what we wanted to do. The season began on a great note for us because we had the entire off-season to enjoy our Nov. 2001 win at New Hampshire. We had a lot of momentum heading into the 2002 season and were looking for a win. That has eluded us so far but we still have four opportunities -- Atlanta, Rockingham, Phoenix and Homestead -- to make it happen.

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.