CUP: Robby Gordon Out Early In Sprint Cup Night Race at Bristol

SOURCE: SPEED

Robby Gordon picked up the 11th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Saturday’s Irwin Tools Night Race at the Bristol Motor Speedway when his #7 SPEED Energy Dodge fell out with brake problems after 10 of the race’s 500 laps.

It was Robby’s second last-place finish of the 2011 season and his first since exiting five laps into the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis, four races ago.

Robby had originally planned to enter two cars in the Bristol race, putting part-time driver Scott Wimmer into his #77. However, the #77 was withdrawn by the time the teams arrived trackside, so Robby turned his attention to his #7. One week after Wimmer narrowly missed getting the #7 into the field at Michigan, the owner-driver put his car into the 39th spot at a speed of 119.835 mph.

Although the car carried additional sponsorship from longtime Bristol sponsor Food City, Robby pulled behind the wall in the first ten laps, joining current LASTCAR Cup Series leader Michael McDowell in the #66. McDowell had been reporting electrical issues over the radio that were bad enough to cause his engine to shut off. The crew was able to make repairs, however, allowing McDowell to return to the track. Robby, with only enough sponsorship to run the distance in the upcoming Cup races at Chicagoland, Texas, and Phoenix, called it a night and fell to 43rd.

McDowell followed suit after completing 49 laps and came home 39th.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*The #7 had not finished last at Bristol since 1996, when Geoff Bodine’s #7 QVC Ford went out with an oil leak after completing 206 laps of the 1996 Goody’s Headache Powders 500.
*This was Robby Gordon’s first-ever last-place finish in a Cup race at Bristol.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #7-Robby Gordon / 10 laps / brakes
42) #46-Scott Speed / 28 laps / brakes
41) #60-Mike Skinner / 28 laps / brakes
40) #87-Joe Nemechek / 42 laps / brakes
39) #66-Michael McDowell / 49 laps / electrical

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Michael McDowell (5)
2nd) Mike Skinner, J.J. Yeley (4)
3rd) Joe Nemechek (3)
4th) Kevin Conway, Robby Gordon (2)
5th) Landon Cassill, Jeff Green, P.J. Jones, Scott Riggs (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #60-Germain Racing, #66-HP Racing LLC (5)
2nd) #55-Front Row Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (3)
3rd) #7-Robby Gordon Motorsports, #46-Whitney Motorsports, #97-NEMCO Motorsports (2)
4th) #81-Whitney Motorsports, #77-Robby Gordon Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (15)
2nd) Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford (3)