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[/media-credit]Robby Gordon worked hard to earn his way into Sunday’s 54th annual Daytona 500 but upon further review he says he might have worked too hard.
Gordon overcame a smoking right front in Thursday’s first Gatorade Duel race to finish ninth in his No. 7 Mapei / Menards / Speed Energy Dodge to lock into Sunday’s race. He’ll start the Daytona 500 from the 17th position.
“Making the Daytona 500 is the big event for NASCAR racing,” said Gordon afterwards.
“When you look at it, besides pure speed, I think three guys make it on speed, obviously Terry [Labonte] takes a past champion, which I still disagree with that, I think that should be based if you were with that team when you won the championship, not because you won the championship you’re in.
“That takes a spot from teams that are working hard to get into the Daytona 500. Rules are rules. We made it fair and square to be fast enough. Proud of my guys, proud of the team, excited to be in the Daytona 500.”
What Gordon was eluding to was the fact that NASCAR allows drivers who are past champions, such as Bill Elliott or Terry Labonte, to become automatically locked into a race because those accomplishments. What it does though it takes up spots from other drivers looking to make their way into the race, such as Gordon was on Thursday.
Elliott won the Sprint Cup Series championship in 1988 and Labonte in 1984 and 1996. Neither driver runs a full NASCAR schedule and neither were locked into the Daytona 500 entering Speedweeks. And neither qualified on their speed from last Sunday’s qualifying session.
While Elliott failed to race his way into the big race, Labonte only completed 12 laps in his No. 32 C&J Energy Dodge for FAS Lane Racing before heading to the garage. The plan was to keep the car in one piece before attempting to race all day on Sunday.
With Labonte parked it left Gordon and his small team fighting for their lives. Unlike Labonte, Gordon and company race nearly every weekend although they were unable to remain in the top 35 in points at the end of the 2011 season. Had they, Gordon wouldn’t have had to race his way in on Thursday.
“It’s crazy that you can actually finish seventh I the 150s, which would put you 14th on the grid, you load your stuff up and go back to North Carolina,” said Gordon.
“I’ve been in that position and I get it. I’m not complaining about the rules. It’s really tough these days to get in. That’s the point I was trying to make, not so much Terry Labonte, 32 car. I don’t really care about them. I focus on our 7 car. Just try to do the best we can and win the Daytona 500, so I’m really proud of my guys.”
Plenty of reason to be, Gordon only has a company of about 10 employees, only about seven or eight of which built the car he raced into the Daytona 500. But watching others find a way to circumvent the rules can be irritating.
“Obviously I got a lot of respect for Terry, this is not a Terry Labonte thing,” said Gordon. “There’s only eight cars that make the Daytona 500. He takes one of those spots, now seven guys make the Daytona 500, four make it on qualifying races, three make it on speed. We’re a small team, too. I guess I should hire Kurt Busch and I could put my other car in the show too.
“It’s just not right. Why take a free ride when the rest of us have to bust our butts to get into the 500? It is what it is. It’s the rules. Like I said, we don’t make the rules, we just play by them, and sometimes you can manipulate them.”
Maybe if Gordon spent less time whining and more time racing he’s have won a Sprint championship too. Instead he likes to pretend he’s this macho macho …. till he starts his whine and blame everyone other than himself for his problems (Think of all the crew chiefs he’s gone through — maybe it’s the driver?)