Team: Richard Childress Racing
Car/sponsor/make: No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet
| |  |
| | Gordon |
|
STATS
|
Year
|
Rank
|
Wins
|
Top 5
|
Top 10
|
Money
|
Best finish
|
|
2001
|
44
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
$1,371,900
|
1st, NHIS
|
|
Career
|
|
1
|
4
|
6
|
$2,719,295
|
1st, NHIS
|
2001 recap
The good: What started out as a promising season for "the other Gordon" (the
one who isn't Jeff), driving the No. 4 Kodak Chevrolet for Morgan-McClure
Motorsports, ended miserably after just the season's first five races due to
a difference of racing philosophies with team owner Larry McClure. Gordon
eventually saw fill-in action for several races around mid-season with Jim
Smith's No. 7 NationsRent Ford, and then ended the season replacing Mike
Skinner for 6 of the last 9 events in Richard Childress' No. 31 Lowe's Home
Improvement Chevrolet, including winning the season finale at New Hampshire,
which had been postponed from mid-September due to the terrorist attacks in
New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
Season highlight: Gordon had two season highlights, one on and the other
off the track. His high point on the track was his first career Winston Cup
victory at the postponed New Hampshire fall race, moving from 31st to take
the checkered flag (something that Skinner had never been able to do in 6
seasons with the Childress camp). Gordon's top off-track highlight was
signing to drive the No. 31 car full-time for Childress for the entire 2002
season.
The bad: Being released from his contract with Morgan-McClure Motorsports
after just five races. Regardless of who was at fault -- Gordon or McClure --
being released after just five races did nothing to help Gordon's reputation
as tempestuous and sometimes difficult to work with, even if this situation
was more about a bad fit rather than a bad attitude.
Season lowlight: From a performance standpoint, Gordon's lowlight was
during his brief tenure at Morgan-McClure. In his five starts for the team,
he qualified 38th or worse four times, with his top finish only being 20th at
Atlanta. Also worthy of mention is Gordon's run at Watkins Glen, where a faulty TV box
in his car might have cost him a win.
|  |
| Robby Gordon burns rubber to celebrate his first trip to a Winston Cup Victory Lane. |
Key stat: One of the biggest what-ifs about Gordon has been what he would do
if he were put into a quality ride. Well, when he joined RCR racing late in
the season, replacing Skinner, Gordon indeed showed what he could do. While
his qualifying left a lot to be desired in those last six starts (top
qualifying spot was 27th in the fall race at Atlanta), he wound up with one
win, one 7th-place finish, and three other top-20 finishes.
2002 outlook
What needs to be done: Gordon knows that 2002 will be, without question, the
most important year ever of his racing career. He finally has an owner and a
team with the technological and financial support to back him in the way he's
wanted to race ever since he first climbed into a Winston Cup car for a
one-race deal with Junie Donlavey in 1991. Gordon has to prove to Childress,
the Winston Cup community and, most importantly, to himself, that he has what
it takes to be a successful and consistent winning Cup driver. If he fails to
do that, or his sometimes mercurial temper and "I'll do it my way"
stubbornness rears up and he has trouble getting along with Childress as he
has with several other owners in his racing career (such as A.J. Foyt, Felix
Sabates and Larry McClure), Gordon's best chance ever for success in Winston
Cup will also likely be his last. He has been given the golden opportunity of
a lifetime -- if he blows it, he'll only have himself to blame.
Prediction: With Childress' backing and support, Gordon could finally make
the big breakthrough he's sought in Winston Cup. If he can emulate the
driving ability and gentleman-like style of racing of Jeff Gordon more than
the seat-of-the-pants style and temper of Tony Stewart, Robby should easily
finish in the top-20 -- maybe even as high as the top-15 -- in 2002.
Your take
Did Richard Childress make the right call in putting Robby Gordon in the No. 31 car? Can Gordon finish in the top 15 or 20 next season? Here are your thoughts.
Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
