Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Taillights fade: Looking back on Robby Gordon's 2009

We're getting within sight of the end of the season, and so it's time to begin our look back. In a feature shamelessly ripped from Puck Daddy's Death Watch and Big League Stew's Walk Toward The Light, we'll be counting down each and every car that fell short of the Sprint Cup this year. And yes, I know there aren't taillights on Sprint cars. It's a metaphor. Roll with it.

Driver: Robby Gordon

Record: 33 races (at this writing), one top-5 finish

Season summary: Robby gets all kinds of grief for causing wreck after wreck, but truth is that the guy is one of the best drivers on the planet -- he just happens to be spread kinda thin. He'll race anything -- cars, trucks, refrigerators on wheels -- and more often than not, 

Where it went right: The Coca-Cola 600, where he pulled off a third-place finish. (Yes, it was because of a rain-shortened race. Hush. You wouldn't have remembered that if I hadn't told you.) Also, Robby won a whole passel of off-road races, but that's not what we're focusing on here.

Where it went wrong: Robby had nine DNFs this year, ranging from crashes to engine problems. When you're back in the pack, it doesn't matter how good of a driver you are, you're going to get caught up in the mess more often than the frontrunners.  

Prospects for 2010: Robby seems to be staying in the top 35, which is good news. He's also most likely going to run in every doggone series he can find, which is good news for him, I guess. There was a rumor floating around that Bobby Labonte would join his team, which could make for an interesting garage. But we'll see.

Next up: Michael Waltrip

Related RGordon posts from 2009:
Video: You will believe Robby Gordon can drive a car
Robby Gordon introduces Joey Logano to the wall
Robby Gordon charged with cheating in offroad race
Robby Gordon is, like, seriously lost looking for Daytona

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