R. Gordon, RCR dismiss rumors of driver change

WELCOME, N.C. -- Recent rumors of Robby Gordon's possible release from Richard Childress Racing were repudiated Wednesday by the driver and a team official.

Recent media reports have had two RCR drivers, Gordon and Johnny Sauter, out of their respective rides. The latest rumor had Gordon being replaced by Roush Racing driver Jeff Burton.

Gordon and his No. 31 Cingular Chevrolet are 25th in the respective NASCAR Nextel Cup driver and owner point tables, on the strength of a single top-five finish in the season's first seven races.

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Gordon said that while that's not a pleasant statistic for anyone at RCR, his release has no part in the organization's near future.

"I think that all that is, is a rumor," Gordon said. "I've got a good relationship with Richard.

"We've had conversations, and it's all about how we're going to perform at Martinsville and what we're doing to try to make the 31 and the 30 cars more competitive, as a team."

RCR director of competition Bobby Hutchens, who Gordon said has been spending extra time working with his group and new crew chief Chris Andrews so far this season, concurred Wednesday afternoon.

"Robby Gordon is our driver of the No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet," Hutchens said. "Whatever rumors have been flying around out there are just rumors. To my knowledge, there have been no conversations that would prove any different."

Due to his schedule, Childress was unavailable for comment Wednesday afternoon, a team spokesperson said.

But Gordon insisted that the circulating stories were unfounded.

"Let's see, if you're going to say Ryan Newman was released and he's going to be driving the 31 car, that sounds pretty good," Gordon said. "I'm pretty sure that Jeff Burton is 30th in points and I'm 25th, so if you're going to replace me, at least get the right guy.

"I don't mean that Jeff's not the right guy, but (that doesn't make much sense)."

Gordon, who swept both Cup road races last season, said circumstances have prevented his team and Andrews from showing their true colors.

	Gordon has driven the the No. 31 since partway through the 2001 season. Credit: Autostock

"We obviously aren't running where we'd like to be running," Gordon said. "I'm still confident in my ability and the knowledge I have about racecars and I believe in this RCR team."

Hutchens seconded that notion, and said the team is working to remedy the poor performance in-house.

"Although the season hasn't met our expectations up to this point, we feel RCR is in good shape with Robby and Chris and the entire Cingular team," Hutchens said. "They've had a lot of good cars this year, but haven't gotten the finishes they deserve.

"They had an awesome car and top-five finish in Darlington (and) we are in the process of building some new cars to hopefully help them down the road."

Gordon said the worst thing that rumors can do is affect a team's performance, but he's not concerned with that with his RCR group.

"I let it (rumors) roll off my back, to be honest with you," Gordon said. "In some cases, it might affect you, but we've got a solid team and it doesn't matter what kind of crap people are throwing around."

RCR Engines supplies the engines for Robby Gordon's own No. 55 Fruit of the Loom Chevrolet NASCAR Busch Series team, which has him fifth in the driver standings and sixth in the owner standings, one position behind Childress' own No. 21 Reese's Chevrolet.

"We've only got one top-five finish and that bothers me, because I thought we'd come out of the box better," Gordon said of his Nextel Cup program. "But we were running in the top-10 at both Daytona and Rockingham before we got taken out in accidents.

"We've missed it a couple times, but all in all we're a 15th to fifth place team. We have to figure out how to be a 10th to first place team, and that's our next step."