Nascar.com is reporting that Robby has decided not to run next weekend at New Hampshire because of lack of sponsorship. Robby Gordon Motorsports will be running a car with P.J. Jones only. Is this true!
SONOMA, Calif. -- Robby Gordon, a former winner at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, will skip next weekend's race at the one-mile New England oval.
However, Robby Gordon Motorsports won't skip the New Hampshire event, Gordon said Sunday evening in a near-empty Cup Series garage.
RGM, which got back into the top 35 in the Cup owners points a week and a half ago thanks to a penalty to Front Row Motorsports, solidified it when Gordon finished second in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway.
"We don't have enough sponsorship to go and do the race, so P.J. Jones will start the car and run 20 or 30 laps," said Gordon, who won the 2001 season finale at New Hampshire while driving for Richard Childress Racing. "It's ridiculous that we can't find sponsorship, but that's where we are."
Three weeks ago, Gordon elected to skip the opening day of the race weekend at Pocono Raceway, putting Ted Musgrave into his No. 7 Toyota to qualify it while Gordon prepared to run the Baja 500 off-road event for his Robby Gordon Off-Road team. Musgrave failed to qualify.
Gordon missed the Richmond Chase cutoff race last season to do another off-road race, putting David Gilliland in the No. 7 for that event.
Gordon's car has appeared for four of 16 races this season with either no sponsorship or in-house programs, such as RGM's SpeedFactory.tv.
At the beginning of the season, Gordon had indicated his team might have to skip races before he announced a collaboration with BAM Racing to pool sponsorship and technology. He said he would be fully-funded for the two races after NHMS, at Daytona and Chicagoland.
Gordon has competed in the Dakar Rally, which starts and ends in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for the past two years. He said he had planned a trip to Argentina later this week.
"There is no question about us remaining in the top 35," Gordon said. "We're solidly in there with what we managed to accomplish today. It was obviously a good run for us. We came here to win the race, but second place is pretty darn close to winning it.
"My team needs a little bit of morale here and there. This will boost morale back at the workshop. I will say that we'll come to Watkins Glen, guns blazing. We'll get a lot of confidence going into the Glen.
"I believe they'll have confidence going to Watkins Glen that we can actually win that race so we can build some momentum throughout the summer and hopefully have some good runs. We had a very good test at Indy, about a month and a half ago. I'm excited about going there. We got some other race tracks we run good at, not only Watkins Glen, but it will help us build momentum just in general."
Heading to New Hampshire, Gordon has jumped to 32nd in the owners' standings, 101 points clear of 36th.
Heres what I dont understand. Why wouldnt Robby run the car? I like PJ, he is a good driver (especially on road courses), but what is RGM saving by not having Robby in the car. Theoretically, doesnt it cost more for RGM to start and park with PJ behind the wheel as opposed to Robby?
Or is this a marketing ploy? Report you cannot make the race due to lack of sponsors right after finishing second, all in the hopes it will catch someones attention who will bring money into RGM.
Permalink Reply by TOG on June 20, 2010 at 11:25pm
It gives PJ more seatime in the car for one of the future 2 car races that they do have funding for. Sadly, this was a reality facing RG when promised funding didnt come through for NH. Or blame Jaci. Any race that she attends, RG doesnt run...lol....As for the 'we wont start & park ' those comments were made when he had certain money promised to him.What can you do ? Gotta pay to play in this series.
Future two car races? When are those, and who is the funding coming from? Is this for more than just a start and park (and start, and park, and start like today) at Watkins Glen?
Permalink Reply by TOG on June 20, 2010 at 11:31pm
I am not going to get into it at this time, but there are races on the schedule in the future that do have funding for 2 cars.Just the way it is.Market driven area and market driven races for those sponsorship programs.The #71 has to start & park now, and they have a former Cup champion.
if you are going spend the money to get your car up there only to put someone else in your car, why not take your ass up there and run the whole race? Is my thought process just way off cause to me it seems like if your going to do what he is doing then he may as well not even go! I dont understand
Allright tog my apology, I typed that before I read the later posts, I may have jumped the gun I will wait to see what these announcements tomorrow are, Ive been without a comp for weeks due to a lightning storm, so i havent been able to keep up with the planet. My bad! I appreciate all you do here on the site and beyond.
I listened to it, sounds like unless you are a top 20 car that race isnt worth the money you win. Why would nascar let that happen it seems that in that situation, they are going to cause more start and parks than anything and nobody likes to see that, if the purse isnt high enough its hurting the smaller teams. thanks for letting me know bout that clip. What a roller coaster of a week!
So what you're saying is if I want to see Robby race this year, I have to stop going to the races with Jaci. Calling Mouse now to have her banned from the HOM and the NH race this weekend!! lol
Oh, so this is my fault? Maybe I shouldn't have been so stalkerish at the Daytona 500. Guess I better not reveal the next race I'm going to this year. Don't want to get any death threats! Although, I may consider bribes.
Dang, thanks Sarah, here I thought you were coming to see me in NH not Robby! Not like Robby is going to drink wine and eat birthday cake with us anyway. Mouse would never ban me from HOM. Would he?