Gordon drops Busch races to alleviate schedule

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Robby Gordon's busy season stepped down a notch Tuesday when the owner/driver withdrew his entry for this weekend's NASCAR Busch Series race at Nazareth Speedway.

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Until now, Gordon had been involved in a hectic May schedule that had him running in the NASCAR Nextel Cup championship for Richard Childress Racing, running in the Busch Series for his own Robby Gordon Motorsports team and trying for a victory in the Indianapolis 500 driving his own Dallara Chevrolet.

But faced with a sub-par qualifying attempt at Indy and needing to make a complete turnaround in his Nextel Cup ride, the Busch Series was the casualty. Gordon has taken out the possibility that he will race in the May 23 Busch Series race at Nazareth Speedway or the May 29 race at Lowe's.

Gordon is 19th in the Nextel Cup standings after 11 races; 519 points out of first and 253 points behind 10th-place Elliott Sadler. The top-10 drivers and anyone within 400 points of the leader qualifies for the championship chase.

Gordon has only two top-five Nextel Cup finishes so far and crashed his primary Indy car in practice. He qualified 18th on pole day at Indy before departing early to make it to the Chevy American Revolution 400 Saturday night at Richmond, where he finished a disappointing 24th.

	Credit: Autostock

"We didn't qualify where we wanted to at Indy, but I have complete faith in my guys that by race time we'll have one of the cars to beat," Gordon said. "They're doing everything we ask of them, and now as the driver, I need to run as many laps as possible in order to have a great car for the race.

"We've got a good shot a making history by winning both races, and that's the goal. We had the schedule worked out to do it all, but by taking two races off the schedule I think we'll be better prepared for Indy and Charlotte."

Gordon, who came into this season planning to run a 25-race program in the Busch Series, found himself so highly placed in the championship that he contemplated adding races to his schedule.

Gordon remained fifth in the standings after finishing 19th last weekend in the Funai 250 at Richmond International Raceway. He has four top-five and six top-10 finishes in 11 starts and is 148 points behind leader Kyle Busch.

But with no sponsorship in place for Sunday's race at Nazareth and a busy practice and racing schedule on tap at Lowe's Motor Speedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Gordon and his organization decided to pull the plug on the Busch title hunt.

Stepping out of the Nazareth event will allow Gordon to practice Saturday and Sunday at Indianapolis and more easily travel to Concord, N.C., for Saturday night's NASCAR Nextel All-Star Challenge.

Practice and qualifying for that event is Friday. Gordon will practice at Indianapolis Wednesday and Thursday. The reduced schedule will now allow Gordon to attend several store appearances for his Indy car sponsor, Meijer, in the Indianapolis market.

Gordon is also running selected off-road races for his own team based at his Robby Gordon Off-Road complex in California.