|
Win Or Give In? |
 |
Robby Gordon lost the race trying to prove that he was right
Dateline: June 25, 2001
In the closing laps of the Winston Cup race from Sears Point Raceway on Sunday pointy-car ace
Robby Gordon had the victory within his grasp. However when he was faced with a difficult decision
he let his emotions win out over logic and it cost him the race.
The Scene
With just fourteen laps remaining in the race Robby Gordon was easily holding off Tony Stewart and
Jeff Gordon and looked to be on his way to the checkered flag. Kevin Harvick, having just received
a fifteen-second penalty for speeding on pit road, raced back onto the track right in front of the
leaders. Gordon slipped by while Harvick was still coming up to speed and put Kevin a lap down.
At this point there were two reasonable options that would have allowed Robby Gordon to visit
victory lane. Harvick could have pulled over and let the leaders battle it out for the win or
Gordon could have let Harvick, who had fresh tires and was faster, get his lap back and get out
of the way.
The Results
Unfortunately for Gordon neither of these two things happened. Harvick got a good run on him a couple of
times but Gordon was clearly blocking like a madman. He ignored his spotter's advice to let Harvick pass
because he didn't think that Harvick should be trying to pass him. The result is that Gordon and Harvick
nearly wrecked each other and Tony Stewart got past them both and took the win.
So?
Now Harvick probably should probably have done the polite thing and backed off. However, with fresh tires
he was clearly faster and, considering the penalty he had just been assessed on pit road, he was probably
driving extra-aggressively. Add to this the fact that Robby was aggressively blocking him and it's easy to
understand why Harvick continued to push.
At the same time Robby Gordon is convinced that he was right, and he may have been. In his perfect
world Harvick would sit back and wait for the race to end, but this isn't the perfect world and things don't
always go the way that you would like. Even if Robby doesn't want to lift and let Harvick go easily
there was no excuse for him to block when Harvick got a clean run on him.
Robby is trying to find a Winston Cup ride for next season. While his driving skills are probably good enough
to justify a ride his attitude and temper should be a concern for any car owner. If it weren't for his ego
and temper Robby Gordon would be Winston Cup racing's most recent winner.
Previous Features
