Robby Gordon won at both Infineon and Watkins Glen in 2003. Credit: Autostock

Gordons get to the Glen from different directions

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- They're from California, they share the same last name, they have dark hair and they're great on road courses.

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Otherwise, they're as different as left and right.

But Saturday at Watkins Glen International, they shared the limelight atop the leaderboard in the only two practices before Sunday's Sirius at the Glen.

Jeff Gordon led Saturday morning's practice with a last lap of 122.442 mph around The Glen's 2.45-mile road course, while Robby Gordon was fastest in Happy Hour at 123.095 mph.

Robby Gordon

One guess as to who was second in Happy Hour. If you said anyone but Jeff Gordon, you aren't paying attention. Gordon, the winner of last week's Brickyard 400 and a four-time winner here, was second at 122.643.

Robby Gordon is the defending champion of this race.

The two Gordons are considered to be the top two road racers in NASCAR, even though their backgrounds are dissimilar. Robby Gordon grew up racing off-road cars before turning to sports cars and IndyCars.

Jeff Gordon grew up on the Indiana dirt tracks, racing Sprint Cars before moving South to race stock cars.

Yet here they are, the two favorites this weekend. Jeff Gordon may have a slight edge, if only because he's starting second. Gordon got that spot after qualifying was canceled Friday because of a wet track because he's second in the points.

The two Gordons have won 10 road races between then, with Jeff winning eight times. They have won the last three road races, with Robby winning both races last year and Jeff winning at Sonoma earlier this year.

Strangely, though, the two have rarely battled each other on road courses.

"Other than Sonoma last year, it seems like when we're at our best, one of is having and issue and one of us is winning the race," Jeff Gordon said Saturday. "Like at Sonoma this year, I was out front and he had his troubles. This race here, he was out front and I had my troubles.

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"I would love to battle with him. I think he's a good road course driver; I think he's fast. But I also think we've got the best program."

Robby Gordon wasn't so sure about that. Even though he starts 23rd and faces an uphill battle Sunday, he's confident he can get to the front and race the other Gordon.

"We're going to beat him half a second a lap," Robby said boldly. "We're going to catch him and pass him and go to the front. There's no reason we can't beat straight up starting 23rd. We don't need race strategy or anything. We came from 20th last weekend to get to him. There's no reason we can't come from 23rd on a road course, which is probably an easier place to pass than Indianapolis."

Bring it on, Jeff said.

"I feel like our performance at Sonoma pretty much proved itself," said Gordon, who dominated the race at Infineon Raceway in June. "Today showed again that our program again is really strong. We're very happy with where we're at and feel like if we do our jobs right, we can be the car to beat."

Both practices were relatively incident free, except for a minor slide off the course or two, until late in Happy Hour. Scott Riggs slowed coming out of the Inner Loop chicane, and Ricky Rudd and Kurt Busch bottled up behind him.

Jeff Gordon

Rudd got in the back of Riggs' car going into the right-hand Turn 9, sending both cars spinning in the grass. Busch had the most damage, hurting the left-front of his Ford when he clipped Rudd's car.

All of the three cars slid to a stop before hitting the barrier.

Busch's crew worked to repair what appeared to be only cosmetic body damage, while the cars of Riggs and Rudd had only scrapes and scratches.

Jimmy Spencer's Morgan-McClure Motorsports team worked on changing engines after Happy Hour.

Moments after the green flag waved again, Jeff Burton stalled in the Inner Loop less than five minutes before the session was due to end. NASCAR extended the practice by five minutes, helping Jeremy Mayfield vault to third on the speed chart.

Ron Fellows was fourth-fastest, with Mark Martin fifth. In the first practice, Tony Stewart was second, with Martin third, Fellows fourth and Joe Nemechek fifth.

Sunday's weather forecast calls for a 40 percent chance of rain as the remnants of Hurricane Charley churn up the east coast.

Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson, who was 14th in Happy Hour, starts on the pole.