Dakar, Toyota, Shootout -- Gordon loving '09 so far (cont'd)

And race cars isn't the only reason Gordon's enthused about getting back with Toyota for the first time since they provided engines for his IndyCar team. Gordon, after turning 40 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on the eve of the Dakar, is reunited with a guy he met as a 20-year-old dirt racer, Lee White, president and general manager of Toyota Racing Development.

“

I've got a lot to prove, still, here in NASCAR -- that we can do this program. And 2009 is gonna be the year that we're gonna show everybody.

”

-- ROBBY GORDON

White was the manager of Jack Roush's potent sports car racing program in 1990, when Gordon switched from off-road to sports car. Their most notable achievement, among many, was winning four consecutive class titles in the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

In the mid-1990s, White moved from Roush Racing and ended up with Toyota, where he was involved in the manufacturer's IndyCar program. He facilitated Gordon starting his own team, which missed winning the 1999 Indianapolis 500 when the car ran out of fuel with Gordon leading to the white flag.

"As a kid, racing, there were numerous days I spent at his house -- we were really good friends," Gordon said of White. "I've been trying to get back with Toyota for a couple years, and we finally were able to make it work this year, and package-wise, I think I'm coming [to Toyota] at the right time."

Consistency strengthens any race team, and Gordon's happy to have that in place at his NASCAR shop.

Fellow Californian Kirk Almquist, a friend for more than 10 years with whom he worked at Richard Childress Racing, returns as crew chief. In 2003, Almquist was one of the lead mechanics on RCR's No. 31 car with which Gordon won a 125-mile Daytona 500 qualifying race and swept the Cup road races.

"We've got pretty much the same crew that we ended '08 with, and I'm very happy with the guys I have," Gordon said. "I have a good friend, Johnny Kaiser, who's been my buddy for more than 20 years and we've built some of the finest cars in racing, period.

"He came onboard about six months before the end of the [2008] season and he's running the shop for us."

Gordon said competing in the 5,900-mile Dakar was an "organizational nightmare" akin to "doing a Cup race at Martinsville daily for 14 days, and your crew has to drive to Daytona Beach every day -- and you have to bring all your parts. You can't call FedEx and say you forgot something."

But Gordon accomplished that so well that his two Hummers finished third and 13th; and he's already planning to add a third car to the 2010 effort. Gordon said a deal's done with Chilean former Formula One, IndyCar and sports car driver Eliseo Salazar to run the third Hummer.

Gordon ran four Nationwide Series races in 2008, two in his own cars, but said if he did any races in '09 they'd be in Toyotas but "it'll only be the road races, because nothing translates right now [between the two series] and I think we can run a better race team if we concentrate on the Sprint Cup side of it."

Gordon returned to America with some economic concerns, but admitted that being an owner/driver was an advantage for him. His team's announced 2009 Cup sponsorship from returning supporters Jim Beam and Menards, but he's still short of a full-season backing.

"I need [sponsors] -- I have a lot of races open, about 15, but I can make it work by being creative," Gordon said. "What I do -- I'm the race car driver and I happen to be the team owner, so if we're short, the race car driver gets screwed. It's real simple. I love to race, so this is what we do and we'll figure out how to make it work.

"Don't get me wrong -- I like to make money. But it's not all about money. I've got a lot to prove, still, here in NASCAR -- that we can do this program. And 2009 is gonna be the year that we're gonna show everybody."