R Gordon blows tranny late in Martinsville HH

Robby Gordon blew a transmission in the closing minutes of Happy Hour and will need to change it before the race.

Our View That will send him to the tail of the field, but he was starting there anyway. It's hard to imagine just how bad his luck has been all season and his bid to climb back into the top 35 in owner points has taken a huge hit.

Play Yahoo! fantasy racing

More Cup newsbreakers

Looking for something to read?

R Gordon has engine woes in Texas practice 2

Robby Gordon exited the track at the 15 minute mark of the second practice session amidst speculation that he might have a transmission problem.

Our View Gordon could use a little luck on the "cookie-cutter" tracks. In eight race this year on this track type, he has an average finish of 24.6 and only one top-10—a third that came by benefit of rain shortening the Coke 600.

It may be something as simple as an over-filled resevoir.

More Cup newsbreakers
Official tweets from the track

Gilliland in second Robby Gordon car at Kansas

David Gilliland will pilot a second Robby Gordon Motorsports car at Kansas this weekend.

Our View This keeps Gilliland in the field while Bobby Labonte takes over the Racers Group ride. Keep an eye out for a sponsor on the quarter panels of the No. 04, because this car has been known to start and park in previous events.

More Cup newsbreakers

R Gordon wins off-road race at Primm

Last weekend, Robby Gordon turned his car over to David Gilliland so he could race in the Primm 300 off-road race. It paid off; he won over Rob MacCachren by only a minute, according to Race-dezert.com.

Our View It's rare to see a NASCAR driver forego a points' paying Cup race, so this underscores Gordon's love of his off-road roots.

More Cup newsbreakers

Nationwide officials take a holiday

Perhaps the Nationwide officials left the track early on Saturday to beat the traffic.

Late in the Zippo 200, Robby Gordon tried to run Joey Logano into the inside of the frontstretch wall. No harm, no foul, but when they went into turn one, Gordon turned into Logano's No. 20 car. Gordon came out on the short end of that contact by cutting his tire and NASCAR did nothing about that contact. O.k., perhaps they felt he had penalized himself for his own stupidity.

Apparently he lost a lap while repairing the car that he himself had destroyed. Back on track, Gordon reportedly ran into Logano again and NASCAR did not take action. That wasn't on camera, so we only have Logano's word for it—so it’s hard to fault NASCAR completely.

Immediately on the restart—under green—Gordon rammed Logano in the bus stop chicane and made a pass on the No. 20. Again, NASCAR did not take action.

In the next turn, he allowed Logano to get to his outside so he could run him off course in precisely the same spot in which Jason Leffler had such a scary accident in Friday's practice. No only did NASCAR fail to take action again (during the fourth incident), but they gave Gordon a "Free Pass" for the incident he had caused—despite the fact that they have a rule stating a car that is involved in the caution cannot benefit from it.

One has to wonder who was officiating this race—if anyone.

Standing outside the infield care center, Logano told reporters "you can't fix stupid; it's for life." He was speaking about Gordon, but the same comment could apply to whoever was calling this race in the tower.

Heluva Good! Dips at the Glen Lineup with Avg. Start / Fin

In a topsy turvey qualification session for the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen, Jimmie Johnson won the pole and Jeff Gordon was forced to settle for 31st; Tony Stewart is mid-pack in 13th and another traditionally strong road racer Robby Gordon is even further back in 22nd. The race is going to be characterized by comers and goers.

Kurt Busch posted the fastest time in Friday's practice and he backed that up with the second fastest lap in time trials, while a pair of strong road racers fills up row two. Denny Hamlin isn't the first name that comes to mind on the road courses, but he's never finished outside the top 10 at the Glen in three starts.

Marcos Ambrose simply hopes he can hold onto his spot in fourth after he crashed in practice at Infineon this June and went to the back in a backup car. Still, he climbed from dead last for the second consecutive road course race and finished third for the second consecutive time.

Lineup

Start	Driver	Avg. Fin	Avg. Start	Attempts
1	Jimmie Johnson	13.14	7.29	7
2	Kurt Busch	21.38	11.25	8
3	Denny Hamlin	6.67	7.33	3
4	Marcos Ambrose	3.00	43.00	1
5	David Stremme	21.00	25.00	1
6	Ryan Newman	16.29	9.86	7
7	Greg Biffle	28.67	15.17	6
8	Kyle Busch	12.50	9.50	4
9	Boris Said	21.75	24.50	8
10	Juan Montoya	21.50	21.50	2
11	Casey Mears	21.33	18.67	6
12	Kasey Kahne	18.60	13.80	5
13	Tony Stewart	5.70	5.50	10
14	Paul Menard	26.40	35.40	5
15	Andy Lally
16	Max Papis	43.00	42.00	1
17	Patrick Carpentier	21.00	39.50	2
18	A J Allmendinger	11.00	37.00	1
19	Elliott Sadler	20.00	22.90	10
20	Brian Vickers	22.60	23.20	5
21	Kevin Harvick	11.25	9.50	8
22	Robby Gordon	10.60	20.50	10
23	Martin Truex Jr	13.00	21.67	3
24	Jamie McMurray	16.83	19.17	6
25	David Reutimann	33.00	28.00	1
26	Scott Speed
27	Bobby Labonte	18.44	18.13	16
28	Mark Martin	6.95	8.11	19
29	Reed Sorenson	23.67	31.33	3
30	Jeff Burton	21.00	19.47	15
31	Jeff Gordon	13.44	6.94	16
32	Dale Earnhardt Jr	20.78	12.67	9
33	Carl Edwards	10.25	10.00	4
34	John Andretti	19.00	19.33	9
35	Joey Logano
36	Sam Hornish Jr	32.00	34.00	1
37	Ron Fellows	25.27	24.09	11
38	Clint Bowyer	17.67	12.33	3
39	P J Jones	24.50	31.88	8
40	David Ragan	31.00	18.00	2
41	Dave Blaney	31.11	27.78	9
42	Matt Kenseth	16.22	14.56	9
43	Tony Ave	31.00	42.00	1
DNQ	Joe Nemechek	21.87	21.53	15
DNQ	David Gilliland	36.50	28.00	2
DNQ	Brian Simo	39.00	42.50	2

Road Kill

More Cup newsbreakers

NASCAR to meet with R Gordon, Stremme

NASCAR plans to meet with Robby Gordon and David Stremme at Watkins Glen International to make certain there are no lingering effects from their confrontation last week, according to @BobPockrass.

Our View Gordon has a lot more to lose this week than Stremme and as the more emotional of the two drivers, he is probably going to be the key. Don't look for anger to spill over this week.

More Cup newsbreakers

R Gordon wins Infineon Happy Hour

Robby Gordon posted the quickest time in Infineon Happy Hour, with a speed of 91.684 during 13 laps.

Our View Gordon was not very fast in the morning session and he struggled in qualification, but it's great to see him finally find some speed. A top-10 is possible for the No. 7.

More Cup Series Newsbreakers

Jones to run Infineon

Add P J Jones to the Infineon entry list. He'll drive a second Robby Gordon car.

Jones is Gordon's go to test guy and a road racing specialist. Unfortunately, there are much better road ringers available this week.

R Gordon wins? or disqualified from Baja?

Robby Gordon may have been disqualified from his winning run in the Baja 500, according to a rumor by @FantasyOffRoad.

Our View: Now that would be a shame to miss Pocono practice and go all that distance – only to get dq'd. Let's hope this one isn't true.

Kvapil to practice for Robby Gordon

Travis Kvapil will shake down Robby Gordon's car in Saturday's practice sessions, while the off-road racer is competing in the Baja 500, according to SceneDaily.com.

Our View: Gordon has done this several times before without any major issues. The No. 7 could be a solid mid-pack contender and could fit your roster in order to extend your salary cap.

R Gordon hits wall in HH

Robby Gordon slapped the wall at the five minute mark of Happy Hour and dropped debris on the track. He porbably won't need a backup car.

Our View: The urgency of practice is picking up with rain just outside the track.