Robby Gordon Fields a car for Ambrose

Momentarily dazed, yet realizing that I am not hungover, or under duress, I write that very title, and I try to clear my confusion in what would appear to be Robby Gordon makeing amends to Ambrose for the harsh chrome bumper intro last weekend in Montreal.

Lee Spencer, the ever deligent Fox Reporter, posts that Gordon will field a second CUP car — the No. 77 for Marcos Ambrose.

"Marcos did a helluva job," Gordon said. "He led a lot of laps on Saturday. It will be great to have him as my teammate."

msn.foxsports.com

That's cool Robby.. let's hope you don't get pulled for this upcoming weekend bud!
I'm still awaiting announced penalties, if any, from NASCAR.

(OK, I had to say 'if any'. We all know that whether NASCAR was right or wrong, they are going to come down on Robby. Right?)

Where is Yeley really going?

J.J. Yeley’s agent, Kyle Chapman, has noted that there is no contracts with Wood Brothers/JTG Racing, but indicated that Yeley is looking at a number of teams for next season.

Of course, the rumor grinder says sources with knowledge of the situation say Yeley will indeed be out of the #18 next season, and behind the wheel of the #21 Ford.

motorsports-soapbox.blogspot.com

Yeley hasn't been catching my eye during the season except when he gets caught up in wrecks, but that may not be a bad thing, just an observation.

Gaunt Out At Red Bull

Citing “irreconcilable differences in the team philosophy,” (This sounds like a divorce!) Red Bull Racing and Marty Gaunt, formerly the team’s vice president/general manager, have parted company effective immediately, the team announced Monday.

In other news (rumors), Red Bull is going to Chevy! It seems to be speculation more than anything as the crazy rumor mill starts to power up with the season getting near the end!

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/nascar/nextel/39267/

Patrick Carpentier to Drive for Evernham

In an effort to move closer to securing a top-35 position in owner's points, Valvoline Evernham Racing has reached a one race agreement with Patrick Carpentier to drive the No. 10 Valvoline/Stanley Tools Dodge in this weekend's Nextel Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/7099352

Kyle Busch, Gibbs Racing, Toyota

Oh my, lots to say here!!

Dave Moody has reported that Kyle Busch will be driving the #18 Toyota Interstate Batteries car for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008 and beyond.  (Yes, you read it right!)

The misplaced J.J. Yeley will be headed over to drive the 21 car for the Wood Brothers/JTG Racing.  (Watch out J.J ., if you don't make the top 35, you'll probably get the bench like Schrader did!  Nooo, I'm not angry about how the Wood Brothers handled Kenny!!) 

An official announcement is expected within the next 2-3 weeks.

And yes, JGR will go over to the Toyota camp 2008.  I trust Dave Moody, so Moody, you better be right!!!

Motorsports Soapbox

Points as they pan out after the Pennsylvania 500

After the Pennsylvania 500, the only changes that occurred were that Jimmie Johnson moved up 2 spaces to 7th, Kevin Harvick moved back 2 spaces to 9th, AND Kurt Busch swapped with Dale Earnhardt Jr for 12th.

It's the 10 to 14 positions that we are all watching right now.  After his dominant performance at Pocono, Kurt Busch moved up into the bubble spot of 12th, bumping Dale Earnhardt Jr to 13th.. Jr is only 7 points behind Kurt, but look out Jr., because Ryan Newman is in 14th, just 83 points behind you!  No slip ups the rest of the season guys!

As much as I'd like to see Newman get in, with his spate of poor luck, I don't see it, and if he does get in, I don't see the type of consistent performance out of him that we see out of the likes of Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart or Kurt Busch.  (I guess I am inadvertently stating who I think the top 4 contenders will be!)

The top 12 are
1-Jeff Gordon (3236 pts),
2-Denny Hamlin (2870)   
3-Matt Kenseth (2825)
4-Jeff Burton (2763)   
5-Tony Stewart (2749)   
6-Carl Edwards (2682)
7-Jimmie Johnson (2624)   
8-Kyle Busch (2611)
9-Kevin Harvick (2600)
10-Clint Bowyer (2552)
11-Martin Truex Jr. (2434)
12-Kurt Busch     (2399)

http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2007/data/standings_unofficial.html

Gillett Evernham Racing

by Bruce Simmons

On SIRIUS Satellite Radio, NASCAR Channel 128 on The Morning Drive, Marty Snider announced that George Gillett is the majority owner of the new entity, Gillett Evernham Racing.

I found the details at Evernham Motorsports web site.  Check it out.

The press release starts out:

"STATESVILLE, NC – August 6, 2007– Today, Ray Evernham and George N. Gillett, Jr. announced the creation of Gillett Evernham Motorsports (GEM), a partnership combining Evernham Motorsports and the Gillett family where Evernham will remain a substantial owner and retain the title of Chief Executive Officer (CEO)."

Does this mean the website has to change/  It probably will.  It should.   Technically, Evernham Motorsports broke the info, but Marty Snider broke the news on air, because I couldn't find it on any other web site at this moment of posting.  (Does that mean I'm the breaking news source on the web!!??  That would be cool.)

Pennsylvania 500

The Pennsylvania 500 got going at Pocono with Kurt Busch getting the Miller Lite car out front early, as he ended up leading 175 laps of the day with the dominant car going on to win the race!

Dale Earnhardt Jr up front more or less, spinning in one lap and during the resulting yellow, also got a shock absorber changed to help him run much better the rest of the day to finish 2nd.

With one lap to go, Kurt Busch has a 3.8 second lead over Dale Earnhardt Jr. as he went on to win the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono, as they were followed by Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Clint Bowyer, Mark Martin & Casey Mears that rounds out the top 10 for the day.

See the complete list of finishers athttp://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2007/21/data/results_unofficial.html

Now, remember when ESPN bashed on Tony Stewart for stating he was going to celebrate with a beer? Today after the race, Kurt Busch was either blatantly tempting fate, or wasn't thinking, because while on national TV, he celebrated by popping open a Miller Lite (His sponsor) and taking a swig after the winning interview on ESPN.. (Groan.) Meanwhile, Jeff Gordon is taking a swig from his own drink, the Jeff Gordon 24 Energy Drink, which isn't bad.. I tried one today!

Home for Sale

This is not NASCAR related, but I promised a friend I'd note this:

If you might find yourself (or someone you know) interested in a 1,972 Sq.Ft., 4 bdrm, 2 ba. passive solar home on 1.6 acres in the Santa Fe, New Mexico region, go check it out at

http://santafe.craigslist.org/rfs/381910973.html

Thanks for looking. Bruce

Robby Gordon gets Parked at Cup

The short of it:

Robby Gordon has been parked for today's Nextel Cup race at Pocono Raceway. P.J. Jones will drive the No. 7 Robby Gordon Motorsports Ford for Gordon.

The long of it:

"Toward the end of Saturday's race at Montreal, Robby Gordon demonstrated blatant disrespect and disregard for NASCAR directives on multiple occasions," NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said. "His actions were certainly disruptive to the orderly conduct of the event." (nascar-bits.blogspot.com)

Gordon becomes part of an "illustrious" group of Cup drivers for being parked for their actions.

He joins Alum Kevin Harvick (2002). Jimmy Spencer missed a race in 2003, but he was serving a one-race suspension for punching Kurt Busch (heh heh) at Michigan when he was forced to sit out the following week at Bristol.

http://www.scenedaily.com/

http://www.nascar.com/

I wonder if we'll hear from Robby Gordon about this issue!?

UPDATE: Well, Robby did make a comment, and it can be found at
http://www.robbygordon.com/cms/publish/index.shtml
But as I write, the site is loading very slowly, presumably from the amount of people headed over there to look.

For the record: Robby made a bad move in a bad situation.

I think he was right. He should have been put back in the spot he was spun from, if indeed, he was spun under yellow.

I understand why he did what he did.. To have listened to NASCAR officials would have put him outside the top 10. (But he'd be driving today if he did.) If they had heard his appeal, then where he finished might have been awarded to him. That was the premise of his continueing. (HELLO, Robby? When has NASCAR ever gone back on a call, even when they are wrong?) But the parking stems from not adhering to NASCAR's instructions.

I think what's occurred here will open the spotlight on this kind of scenario because Robby noted that these kind of scenario's have occurred before.

Good idea Robby, bad execution.