NASCAR suspends Robby Gordon for Cup race
Driver apologizes for disobeying circuit's orders to park in Busch race
 | Robby Gordon will not drive in Sunday's Pocono 500. |
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LONG POND, Pa. - Robby Gordon was suspended by NASCAR for the Nextel Cup race at Pocono on Sunday because of his misconduct on the race track at the Busch Series race in Canada.
Gordon refused to forfeit his position on the track when ordered to by NASCAR late in Saturday’s race. Officials said Gordon intentionally knocked Marcos Ambrose out of the race, and then refused to pull off the track as ordered, ignoring repeated black flags.
Gordon also celebrated at the same time as race winner Kevin Harvick, overshadowing what had been a wonderful debut weekend for the series in Canada.
“They put me in a position to react the way I did with the call they made under caution,” Gordon said at Pocono Raceway.
NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp quoted the rule book when making his announcement, stating that NASCAR may take emergency action against any driver who “constitutes a threat to the orderly conduct of the event.”
“The way he performed and his actions on the track, in our mind, certainly disrupted the conduct of that event,” he said. “We’re not going to permit that, we’re not going to allow that.”
P.J. Jones drove the No. 7 Ford for the Pennsylvania 500 and started at the rear of the field. Gordon had qualified the car 30th and was 27th in the points standings, well out of contention for a place in the 12-car, 10-race Chase for the Nextel Cup championship that begins in six races.
Jones is making his second start this season and 24th of his career. He has one top-five finish back in 2002.
Gordon, who posted an apology on his Web site www.robbygordon.com, said at Pocono that NASCAR will let him compete in the Busch Series and Nextel Cup races next week at Watkins Glen. That decision could be a huge break for Gordon, who is generally regarded as one of the top road course drivers around.
“We’ll sit this weekend out, but we will come to Watkins Glen with a vengeance to win both races,” he said.
However, Tharp said shortly before the start of the Cup race that additional disciplinary action was “something we’re reviewing.”
Gordon celebrated as if he had won at Montreal, doing victory burnouts and pumping his fist at the crowd at the same time as Harvick.
“It certainly is way over the line when it comes to conduct on the track and doing what is expected of the driver to keep the event orderly,” Tharp said.
Gordon did cross the finish line first, though the results showed he finished 18th based on the amount of laps he completed when he was disqualified. Gordon also refused to acknowledge the black flag that NASCAR waved at him every time he crossed the line over the final few laps.
“My first initial reaction was that if I’m going to protest this, at least I’ve got to win the race to protest this,” Gordon said. “That’s what I was thinking at the time and obviously NASCAR doesn’t like the way I was thinking. They make the rules and we’ll play by them.”
Gordon was second on a restart with four laps to go, and a multi-car accident brought out a caution. He passed Ambrose at the same time as the accident to take the lead, but Ambrose spun him to reclaim it seconds later.
Gordon was idling sideways as the field roared by him on Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, but he raced back to the front under yellow and gave Ambrose a retaliatory bump.
He then tried to move into the lead because he thought he was in first — or at worst, second — when the caution came out.
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NASCAR instead ruled he was 13th, based on where Gordon was when he righted his car following the spin from Ambrose. He refused to move back into the field, and NASCAR warned him they would not score him if he didn’t forfeit his position.
When the race resumed with three laps to go, Gordon was still holding second place but immediately spun Ambrose to take the lead. NASCAR then ordered him off the track.
He refused that order, too, and led the field around the course for the final three laps.
“It’s hard for me to understand how I was supposed to start in the 13th position,” Gordon said. “I felt that NASCAR put me in a position to react.”
Gordon’s the second driver to be suspended for a Cup race because of his antics in another series. NASCAR suspended Kevin Harvick from a Cup race in 2002 because of an altercation during a truck series race.
Jimmy Spencer was suspended one race for punching driver Kurt Busch after a 2003 race at Michigan.
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