#7 Gordon Leaves FORD

[TAZZ]

FONTANA, Calif. - Robby Gordon, perhaps the last driver/owner left in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, has decided to form a partnership with a larger organization and switch manufacturers, just days before the start of the 2008 season.


Gordon has confirmed to FOXSports.com that his single-car organization, Robby Gordon Motorsports, has left the Ford camp, switched to Dodge and signed a "technical, manufacturing and marketing services agreement" with Gillett Evernham Motorsports.

"I'm excited about the opportunity here," Gordon said. "I think having teammates and being able to share information is only going to be able to help our performance on the racetrack.

"Ford has been a good partner of mine. I don't want to burn any bridges there, and I don't believe we have burned bridges there. Everybody's on the same page. With the whole Dakar thing, that put us off edge a little bit, and this was a way to get back on track and keep going forward until they figure out what they're going to do with the Dakar Rally."

Friday's announcement is a blow to Ford, which now only has seven full-time Cup teams in their stable — four-car Roush Fenway Racing, the newly formed two-car Yates Racing and the single-car Wood Brothers Racing.

"We were fully prepared to continue our commitment with him this year, and had plans to increase our level of engineering support before he told us of this decision to partner up with Gillett Evernham Motorsports," said Doug Hervey, North American operations manager for Ford Racing Technology, in a statement. "As a manufacturer, we're disappointed to be losing him and his team, but understand the difficulties of running a one-car team in the sport today."

While forming the alliance with GEM, Gordon will remain independent and stay at his shop in Charlotte, N.C.

"George (Gillett) obviously loves the sport, and I'm excited to see that they're willing to help us with our race team as well, be more competitive," said Gordon.

"(The alliance) put us in, I'm going to say, a little bit of financial trouble, and put us in a position where I needed to look elsewhere for opportunities to grow."

Gordon, a 39-year-old journeyman racer, made his Cup Series debut with Junie Donlavey in 1991. After bouncing around from team to team, including a contentious five-race stint with Morgan-McClure Motorsports to start the 2001 season, Gordon received his big break by signing with Richard Childress Racing in the summer of 2001. In his 10th race with RCR, the season-finale make-up event at New Hampshire International Speedway, Gordon recorded his first of three Cup victories to date.

One of the sports' top road racing specialists, Gordon swept both road course races at Sonoma and Watkins Glen two years later behind the wheel of RCR's No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet.

In 2005, Gordon resurrected his own team with Chevrolet. He left Chevy and joined forces with Ford last season, finishing 26th in the point standings.

"Robby has been running as a single-car team the last few years, and that is a difficult task in our sport these days," said Ray Evernham, co-owner of GEM, in a press release announcing the decision. "We plan to work with Robby and his team and pool some of the knowledge and make all of our teams better."

[Rakeman]

I don't care what he drives - I still like him!

[Sprint]

The boy has alot of talent....I just don't care for his attitude sometimes

[ProwlingPanther]

Just something about those Gordon's that people don't like

[TAZZ]

This may be the break Robby needs.
Dodge does not have the talent Chevy and Ford had

[buc_a_ganny]

	Quote:			Originally Posted by Rakeman
	I don't care what he drives - I still like him!

Me either Rakey..He's a good aggressive driver and needs to have a little change