Owner-driver has better start, so far

He has qualified for every race this year and is 19th in the points standings.
By MIKE HARRIS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Telling Robby Gordon he can't do something only makes him more determined to get it done.
So, the chorus of people telling Gordon that being an owner-driver in NASCAR's Nextel Cup series is a formula for disaster only made the 37-year-old California native more sure he could do it.
It's beginning to look like he can.
A year after a frustrating season in which his new Robby Gordon Motorsports team was able to qualify for only 29 of 36 Cup races and missed the all-important top 35 in car owner points by three spots, Gordon is racing well and nearly ready to say, "I told you so."
"The difference of where we were last year at this time to now is like night and day," Gordon said last weekend before finishing 28th in the rain-delayed Monday race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. That sends him into Sunday's race at Bristol 19th in the points.
And he deserved better. Gordon was penalized for speeding on pit road, charged all the way back to the top five but wound up with a disappointing finish after having to make a late gas stop.
"That was terrible," Gordon said.
A year to forget
Still, Gordon is in a lot better shape than a year ago.
NASCAR decreed last year that teams in the top 35 are guaranteed a starting spot in every race, with the last eight spots in the lineup going to cars that qualify on speed. The top 35 at the end of the season are also grandfathered in for the first five races of the next year.
That was a huge problem for Gordon in 2005, when he began with an all-new team with no points and using brand new engines supplied by friend and former partner John Menard, whose company had never built engines for NASCAR.
Gordon failed to qualify for the season-opening Daytona 500, had engine failures in the next three races and crashed during qualifying at Bristol. After that horrible start, the former open-wheel racer never did get into the top 35, meaning he had to qualify for every race.
That carried over to 2006, but Gordon, now using engines from Dale Earnhardt Inc., is four-for-four so far, making every race.
"I'm still very nervous on Fridays," he said, referring to qualifying day at most tracks. "Fridays are horrible until we get ourselves out of this top 35 thing for sure."
At that point, the superstitious Gordon began looking for something made of wood in his motor home to knock on for luck. Failing to find a wooden object, he grinned and said, "Well, at least I've got a lucky penny in my pocket."
He then went out and qualified easily, leaving only this Friday at Bristol to worry about.
"One more nail-biting day," he said. "I'm a better racer than a qualifier."
Barring disaster at Bristol, it appears that Gordon has rounded the corner and will be guaranteed a starting spot beginning in two weeks at Martinsville -- unless he falls out of the top 35 again.
Turnaround began late in '05
Gordon said the turnaround began in the last two races of 2005 when he bounced back from missing races in Atlanta and Texas to finish eighth at Phoenix and 14th at Homestead. Other than a runner-up finish on the road course at Watkins Glen, those were his best runs of the season.
"I'm happy with where we're at," Gordon said. "We've learned an awful lot. We're better experienced and have more knowledge and we're having a better year."
Gordon, who failed in a previous attempt as a NASCAR owner-driver in 2000 when he was partnered with Menard and Mike Held, chose to leave Childress' established team after the 2004 season and said he believes he is much more prepared to succeed now.
"I think my ability and experience are probably crossing paths right now," Gordon said. "There's a spot where youthful excitement and knowledge cross and I'm probably in that cross pattern right now."
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