Glitches hamper Gordon’s twinbill

Broken engine part, rain ruin doubleheader

? Robby Gordon thought he had cars good enough to win two races Sunday. A broken part and rain ruined his bid.

Gordon was knocked out of the Indianapolis 500 late in the race when the gear box in his car broke as he left pit road and he finished 22nd.

It did allow Gordon to get an early start on his trip to NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600: He was on the plane eating turkey sandwiches when Gil de Ferran took the checkered flag at Indy.

Gordon’s car was strong in the NASCAR race, but he was in 17th place when the race was called because of rain after 276 laps.

Gordon’s attempt to run 1,100 miles in one day ended up falling short at just 824.

“We were easily as good as anybody else out there,” Gordon said. “The gears worked fine from first to second, but from second to third it broke the gear box.”

It was one of many hitches in Gordon’s day. Midway through the NASCAR race, he and teammate Kevin Harvick banged their cars together as Harvick tried to pass him. The contact probably caused a flat left tire that caused Harvick to pit.

“Why does (Gordon) have to be the hardest car on the track to pass?” Harvick complained over his radio.

“Kevin, don’t worry about it. We’ll talk about it tomorrow,” car owner Richard Childress responded.

Gordon’s day got off to a poor start when his police escort never arrived at the hotel and he had to navigate his own way to the track. With a schedule planned down to the minute, it was the first of two unexpected speedbumps in Gordon’s bid to run both the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600.

He arrived at Lowe’s Motor Speedway outside Charlotte at 3:30 p.m. CDT, about an hour before the start of the NASCAR race.

Gordon quickly fell a lap down. He came back to get back on the lead lap and was running in the top 20 when the race reached the halfway point.

Although Gordon finished 22nd at the Brickyard, he improvised quite nicely just getting himself to the track.

He jumped onto the tail of another caravan that did have an escort and was at the track by 9 a.m., calm and seemingly relaxed as he snacked on a granola bar before his planned 1,100 miles of racing.

“I feel good. Real good,” Gordon said as he walked along the race track to his car. “It’s going to be great day.”