June 26, 2005 12:09 am EDT



If it ain't broke ...

By Bob Margolis, Yahoo! Sports

Gordon struggled on Sunday. (AP)

SONOMA, Calif. – Robby Gordon was pretty clear about what went wrong Sunday.

"We gave it away. We beat ourselves. That's what we've got to stop doing," a frustrated Gordon said after finishing 16th in the Dodge/Save Mart 350.

The Gordon camp had high expectations coming into the road course race at Infineon Raceway, as Gordon is known in NASCAR circles as a one of the road course "experts" – a distinction he proved he deserves by sweeping both Cup road races (here at Sonoma and at Watkins Glen) in 2003.

His new Cup team has struggled this season with the normal teething problems associated with a new engine program, and a road-course race – where the demands placed on a race engine are far less than those on an oval – seemed to be the right medicine for the No. 7 gang.

After a couple of strong practice sessions and a fifth-place starting position, things did indeed look promising for Gordon and Co., who were staring at perhaps their best opportunity to win a race.

Then, only 24 laps into the race, disaster struck.

A faulty shifter stuck Gordon's transmission in third gear. It was the same problem that had been reported by Jimmie Johnson and would later plague Jeff Gordon.

"I've tried everything, it just won't budge [from third gear]," Robby Gordon angrily yelled over his radio. That was followed by a long stream of expletives.

The team elected to keep Gordon out on the track waiting for a caution that would allow him to come into the pits without losing too much track position. His team was able to fix the problem after several pit stops under caution, but Gordon ended up a lap down for most of the remainder of the race.

Although the team was using the same transmission it had in the past, the linkage that controlled the transmission was from a new supplier. It was a change that Gordon didn't favor.

"Unfortunately, someone made a decision three weeks ago and I didn't agree with it and it bit me," Gordon said. "If it isn't broke, don't change it. It's another lesson for us."

Another part of the lesson for Gordon was knowing what might have been.

"There was no reason for us to lose this race," Gordon said. "I was running third there early on and I was good as anyone. I could drive up to them at anytime."

Gordon was able to get back on the lead lap during the sixth caution of the day, but only after receiving the Lucky Dog pass which allows the first car a lap down to get a lap back. Gordon raced back to a 16th-place finish by bumping and banging his way through the field.

After the race, his car was beaten-in and torn up, looking more like he had just been short -track racing rather than on a road course.

"That's the problem when you get behind about fifth or sixth place," Gordon said. "You get back there and everyone starts beating and banging. That's the only way to get through traffic."

The team, which has been plagued by bad luck and mechanical failures lately, now heads to Daytona, where Gordon doesn't have the highest of hopes for making the field. He is currently 39th in points, and with a developing engine program, he's not confident he'll have the speed to qualify for the Pepsi 400.

Gordon does have a solution to the problem.

"I wish I could pull a program like the 11 car did," said Gordon, referring to Jason Leffler being replaced by past Cup champion Terry Labonte for the Sonoma race. The move that turned out to be a smart one, as placing a former champion in a car essentially guaranteed that the struggling FedEx car would make the race. Labonte finished 12th.

"It's pretty weak to score points that way," Gordon said. "They should have left Leffler in the car and given us an opportunity to gain some ground on them."

Gordon suggested he should put Fox Sports analyst and three-time cup champion Darrell Waltrip in his car for the Pepsi 400.

"I'll stay out of the car altogether and we'll score some points," Gordon said.

Waltrip was flattered by the invitation.

"I would love to do it," he said, laughing. "But I think that my champion's provisional has run out."

Waltrip said that he was a big fan of Gordon's and that he hates to see him struggling this season.

"If there was a guy out there that I would love to help, it would be Robby," Waltrip said. "But that's just not part of my game anymore.

"Now, if it was a truck race, I'd be right there."