2010 Bristol Food City 500 Race Weekend Discussion

Join in here and discuss all the practice & race action for the 2010 Bristol Food City 500. Robby Gordon will be running the #7 Warner Music / Blake Shelton Toyota. Here is the weekend schedule for RGM at the Tennessee track.

FRIDAY , MARCH 19th

Practice 12:00 - 1:30 pm/et ( 29th Quickest )
Qualifying 3:30 - 5:00 pm/et ( Starts 32nd )

SATURDAY , MARCH 20th

Practice 11:00 - 11:45 am/et ( 33rd Quickest )
Practice 12:20 - 1:20 pm/et ( 41st Quickest )

SUNDAY , MARCH 21st

FOOD CITY 500 1:00 pm/et , green flag at 1:16 pm/et ( Finished 22nd )

Dont forget live raceday chat will be available,as well as PLANETROBBY TWITTER.

Practice Live Leaderboard

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Permalink Reply by GasOnRobby on March 20, 2010 at 6:28pm

That was a wicked hit.

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Permalink Reply by TOG on March 20, 2010 at 6:38pm

Guess there were no spotters for these drivers in the legends race,according to ESPN . How quickly we forget about Deborah Renshaw's incident with Eric Martin.:

ESPN broadcast was wrong with initial no spotter indication: They did have spotters.

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Permalink Reply by Trooper Blue on March 20, 2010 at 6:42pm

Ok... so they did have spotters. I wonder if this makes them rethink this race for next year. I remember when the NBA used to have an old timers game as part of all star weekend. They ended that after a bunch of the old guys blew out their knee.

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Permalink Reply by Alex on March 20, 2010 at 7:09pm

I wonder if this will be the last legends race. Glad he is ok, hopefully not too injured

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Permalink Reply by GasOnRobby on March 20, 2010 at 8:21pm

I hope they have more. The drivers know the risk when they buckled up for the race. Those cars are probably safer today then the ones they drove.

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Permalink Reply by Trooper Blue on March 20, 2010 at 9:22pm

From ESPN:

A hospital spokesman told ESPN that Pearson was in fair condition, alert, awake and in good spirits. He suffered a compound fracture of the left ankle, a broken pelvis and a fractured right hand. He is scheduled to have surgery Saturday night.

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Permalink Reply by TOG on March 20, 2010 at 11:34pm

Saturday practice report from Rhett, PR with Bam Racing (Bristol is technically a BAM event for RGM )

The Sprint Cup cars had two practices on Saturday at Bristol. The first practice would be from 11:00am until 11:45am, the second would be from 12:20pm until 1:20pm. After wholesale changes to the VIPFanExperience.com/Blake Shelton Toyota, Robby Gordon hit the racetrack at 11:04. For Run 1, Lap 1 was 16.678.
Lap 2 – 16.565
Lap 3 – 16.026 (this positioned us 25th of the 35 cars that had turned laps.)
Lap 4 – 16.045
Lap 5 – 16.115
Shannon, the spotter came over the radio, “Still there, still there . . . clear.”
Lap 6 – 16.329
Lap 7 – 16.129
Lap 8 – 16.088
Lap 9 – 16.321 (Jimmie Johnson had turned the best lap at 15.635.)
Robby reported, “The balance is (bad), we’ll work on it.”
Crew chief, Larry Carter asked, “Do you want lap times on the back?” (Larry gives Robby his lap times once he is on the back straight – in theory a place where the driver can relax for a few fleeting moments before being thrown into the turns again.)
Robby answered, “I like it, thanks. I’m a little too free in the middle.”
Larry directed, “Wayne, let’s put 2 shocks on it.”
Wayne replied, “I’m on it.”
Robby suggested, “Let’s try something new.”

Run 2 at 11:13am: Lap 10 – Out lap was 7:46.
Lap 11 – 16.224
Lap 12 – 16.138
Lap 13 – 16.226
Lap 14 – 16.903 (Robby was off the gas as he came across the line.)
Robby analyzed, “Too loose in and middle, too tight off, buzzed the tires.”
Larry told the crew, “Put that other shock on it, put that straight arm on the left side. Robby, you’ll have to jump out so we can adjust that. How much time do we have left?”
Miles answered, “About 25 minutes – it’s a 45 minute session.”

By 11:27 Robby was back out for his third run.
Lap 15 – Out lap was 11:24.
Lap 16 – 16.274
Lap 17 – 16.116
Lap 18 – 16.144
Lap 19 – 16.150
Robby said, “That’s better because I’m tighter in the middle but too tight off. Let’s try the bar.”
Larry agreed, “Okay.”
Robby asked, “What else would you do to tighten it up, track bar?”
After a back and forth discussion it was decided to drop the track bar ½ inch on both sides.
Larry projected what would happen during the race, “That’s going to put you where about 20 cars are running nose to tail.”

Run 4 at 11:32am: Lap 20 – Out lap was 4:45.
Lap 21 – 16.278
Robby said, “Loose. Drop track bar ½ inch on both sides.”
Larry reaffirmed, “You heard him.”
Robby then encouraged the crew, saying, “I think it’s going to be a turning S.O.B. right here!”

Run 5: Lap 22 – Out lap
Lap 23 – 16.172
Lap 24 – 16.205
Robby wanted more, saying, “Another ½ inch on track bar, coming in . . . be ready.”

Run 6 at 11:37: Lap 25 – Out lap was 1:59.
Lap 26 – 16.251
Lap 27 – 16.289
Lap 28 – 16.309
Robby reported, “I like how it turns.”
Larry analyzed the run from his perch atop the transporter, “Didn’t look like you could hustle it like that though. Didn’t look like you could get off (the turns).”
The crew then made pretty big changes for such a short time left in practice, disconnecting the rear bar and raising the track bar back an inch and half to where it was at the start of practice. Larry also suggested a rubber in the right rear spring.

Run 7 at 11:41: Lap 29 – Out lap was 3:51
Lap 30 – 16.246
Lap 31 – 16.228
Lap 32 – 16.142
Lap 33 – 16.323
Lap 34 – 16.182
Lap 35 – 16.178 Larry coached Robby about the 56 of Martin Truex, Jr who was gaining fast, “That might be tires.”
Lap 36 – 16.617 (while he was getting passed)
Lap 37 – 16.439
Robby reported after the run, “Right now too loose getting in, have to be careful. Too tight on exit.”
Larry said, “Understood. Guys there’s 20 minutes between sessions, start with stickers (new tires) fill it up with fuel.”

A completely different set-up was put into the car for the final practice. Robby ran another 36 laps over 6 separate runs. The car was understeering badly (too “tight” or “pushing” and the changes made the car go from “too loose” to “too tight” – so Robby, Larry, Miles, Brian and the crew have to decide on a happy medium and find just the right compromise for tomorrow’s 500 laps.
At one point, Jay was working on the car and as normal was pressed for time. He called out, “Pair of flush cuts, please. Phillips screwdriver, please and a tie wrap.” It made me chuckle since it sounded like a skilled surgeon calling for his instruments.
The impression left on me was just how fast Bristol actually is. With the car lapping every 16-some seconds it was almost too quick to even record the lap times and comments. When Robby would comment on his in-lap, he’d be back in the pits before I ever realized he wasn’t still on the track.