Gordon Scores Top-Twenty in Arizona Travel 200

Qualifies Huggies / Bashas’ Ford Fusion in seventh

Avondale, AZ (November 10, 2007) … With the 2007 NASCAR Busch Series winding to a close, the #27 Huggies/ Bashas’ Ford Fusion Racing Team was hoping for a strong finish in the Arizona Travel 200. And, with Nextel Cup star Robby Gordon at the controls, prospects were excellent at the Phoenix International Raceway to close the season on a positive note.

Gordon, driving his second race in the #27 Brewco entry during the 2007 Busch Series season, worked on race setup primarily during the two practice sessions on Friday at PIR. The only simulated qualifying run left the #27 Huggies / Bashas’ Team 15th on the speed chart at the end of practice. However, Gordon told Crew Chief Newt Moore and the crew “I’ve still left something on the table for qualifying. We’ve just a small adjustment away from being really competitive”.

Saturday morning, Gordon was the 33rd driver to make his qualifying run at the one-mile Phoenix track. The veteran picked up over a half-second on his second lap to post the fourth fastest speed at the time of his attempt, 27.385 seconds / 131.459 mph. Three drivers bested his speed in the final minutes of qualifying, but the seventh starting position was the best qualifying effort for the #27 team since Jason Keller’s fourth at Gateway (St. Louis) on July 21st. Gordon’s effort marked the seventh top-ten qualifying effort by the #27 team this season. Now, with a strong qualifying effort under his belt, Gordon wanted to give the team their best finish of the season. The mark he was shooting for was 5th by Jason Keller at Milwaukee on June 23rd.

At the start of the 200-lap, 200-mile race, Gordon maintained his 7th position in the running order, but radioed to Crew Chief Newt Moore that his Huggies / Bashas Ford was “too tight in the center of the corner”. On lap 21, Gordon drifted high in turn two and made contact with the outside retaining wall. Fortunately, two other cars were spinning in turn four at the same time that brought out the caution flag. Gordon brought his Ford to the attention of the crew on pit road on lap 23 under caution. The crew changed four tires, assessed the damage, and sent Gordon back on the track. Gordon made a second stop on lap 24 for additional repairs to the right front of his Huggies / Bashas Ford and a track bar adjustment. Gordon would restart 37th on lap 30 on the lead lap.

Gordon began to work his way back through the field during the next twenty laps. When caution waved for a spin on lap 43, the leaders made their initial pit stop of the race and Gordon remained on the track to gain track position. He would restart third on lap 48.

Shortly after the restart, Gordon reported to Moore that his Ford was “still too tight, not much change from earlier in the race”. Moore kept encouraging Gordon even though the tight handling condition resulted in Gordon dropping back in the running order to 18th by lap 100. Moore was planning his adjustments and pit strategy as he kept hoping for a caution so that the team could make their necessary pit stop under caution. Finally, on lap 115, Moore got his wish as caution waved for debris.

Gordon pitted on lap 117 for tires, fuel, wedge, and track bar adjustments. The Huggies / Bashas Ford would restart 21st on lap 121. When caution again waved on lap 132, Gordon made another trip to pit road for tires, fuel, air pressure and wedge adjustments. After restarting 23rd on lap 137, Gordon made a very evasive move to avoid a multi-car crash on the frontstretch. After a red flag for fifteen minutes to clean the track, Gordon would restart 17th on lap 141.

After gaining another position to 16th, Gordon reported to Moore that his Ford was now “really loose”. Contact with another car had knocked the right front fender in close to the tire, so Gordon pitted under caution on lap 172 for right side tires, fuel, pull the fender out, and a track bar adjustment. Crew Chief Moore commented to Gordon, “You did a heckeva job holding on to that car the last few laps”. Gordon restarted 19th on lap 175 and has his sights set on a top ten finish. However, the handling issues continued and, even though Gordon pitted on lap 199 for tires after a second red flag period, the veteran was only able to gain two positions in the final green-white-checker finish to post a 20th-place result.

“I really had high hopes today for the Huggies / Bashas Ford”, Gordon stated. “The adjustments made for qualifying by Newt (Moore) were really good and gave me a strong car at the start. I got tight and scraped the wall early in the race to put us back in the pack, but pit strategy got our track position back. The car just stayed tight until the latter stages of the race when it went loose suddenly. My hat’s off to the crew for all their hard work and effort this weekend. I just wish I could have finished off or positive start.”

The NASCAR Busch Series will close the door on the 2007 season with the Ford 300 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway next Saturday, November 17th. Practice begins on Friday, with qualifying set for 12:05 p.m. ET on Saturday. The 200-lap, 300-mile race is set to go green at 4:45 p.m. with ESPN2 providing the live television coverage of the final event of the season. The Motor Racing Network and Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 128 will provide the radio coverage. Bobby East will drive the #27 Kleenex Ford Fusion in the Ford 300 at Homestead.