#7 Menards Mapei Coke Zero 400 powered by Coca-Cola 400
Pre Race Report

• Loudon Recap – Plagued by rain all weekend, the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 was cut short by a heavy downpour forcing NASCAR to call the race early leaving Robby Gordon with a less-than-satisfying 25th place finish. Gordon and team return to Daytona Beach this Saturday for their second run of the season at the fabled Daytona Motor Speedway. The #7 Camry will be wearing the familiar green and blue of Mapei, a worldwide leader in products for the building and construction industry.

• Tony George…move aside – In what can only be called an ironic twist, Tony “I singled-handedly killed open wheel racing in the US” George was asked – by all people his mother – to step down this week as president and CEO of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Speedway chairperson Mari George told her son to “concentrate his efforts on his IRL race team.” Tony, when reached by PR Eyewitness news anchor Slider S. Thompson to get his reaction to his mom’s smack down, said, “Have you ever had a mom that was totally embarrassing to you all the time? Even when I was a kid, mom was always telling me what to wear, what to eat and to make sure my race track was picked up before I went outside to play.”

• RGM hires new intern – PR Eyewitness news is pleased to confirm the hiring this past week of noted designer and graphics guru Garrett “Jackie” Gleason as RGM’s newest intern. PR members can view Gleason’s personal page to read his daily blog on his experiences. Some of the highlights from his blog include his “waking up, taking a shower, getting dressed and having orange juice for breakfast.” Riveting stuff. (Editors Note: I am recommending Gleason for a Pulitzer Prize for his use of first-person narrative).

Robby Gordon quotes: “Our good speedway car took a beating at ‘Dega when we made hard contact into the inside back-stretch wall, so the boys in the shop have had to work hard to prepare a new piece. Nevertheless, I believe our plate cars are strong and I look forward to earning our second top-ten finish of the year. On a side note, did you see that thing about Tony George? I remember the time when I was driving for AJ and Tony came by the shop and asked us if our mothers were always embarrassing us too.”

Kirk Almquist quotes: “Two weeks in a row we’ve done a really good job as a team and we didn’t get the results to show for it. But our crew is very talented…in fact, they remind me of that lady who finished second on that show “Britain’s Got Talent”. She wasn’t much to look at, but she could sing the hell out of “Castle on a Cloud.” (Editors Note: I think what Kirk is trying to say is he has a bunch of over-the-wall guys who might not be very pretty but they perform like they are part of a well rehearsed choir…something like that…)