What happened to Robby Gordon Friday at Bristol?

Gordon

Robby Gordon failed to make the 500 field after his engine failed to fire for practice. That would normally not be a major story here; however the situation surrounding Gordon's problems made it one. "Robby was out there on the line ready for practice, and then the car just wouldn't fire," crewman Randy Rodriguez said. "Four McLaren engineers came running over there to help, and they spent 1-1/2 hours with it, but couldn't figure it out. So we have to go home. No practice, you can't qualify." NASCAR officials, asked about the situation, referred reporters to McLaren engineers, who could not be found. Dodge execs, likewise, could not be found for comment. Gordon, one of only three NASCAR drivers this year running Dodges (along with Penske men #22-AJ Allmendinger and #2-Brad Keselowski), says he has called Dodge boss Ralph Gilles since Penske announced two weeks ago that he would be moving to Ford.

But Gordon says Gilles has not yet returned his inquiries. Gordon had engine problems at Daytona and tried to get an engine from Penske, the only other team owner building Dodge engines. But Gordon said Penske's price (which he wouldn't specify) was too high. Dodge itself apparently doesn't build NASCAR engines or have any other engine building source. MikeMulhern.net