Top 35 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers: No. 34, Robby Gordon

By Rea White - Associate Editor

Saturday, November 28, 2009

NASCAR Sprint Cup owner/driver Robby Gordon was the top-ranked independent team this season, finishing 34th in the standings.

David Griffin
NASCAR Scene

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Robby Gordon finished the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season as the top independent team in a series increasingly loaded with multicar organizations or competitors with alignments to those.

Not Gordon. His Robby Gordon Motorsports team switched to Toyota for this season, but Gordon continued to be a solo effort - and maintained his spot in the top 35 in the standings all season despite a 50-point penalty for a parts issue at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

He also continued his stellar off-road career as well, finishing third in the Dakar Rally and winning the Score International Off-Road Series Trophy Truck division and overall series titles.

Gordon, 40, earned a top finish of third in his continuing role of owner/driver with the team he has run for five seasons.

The Orange County, Calif., native finished 34th in the drivers standings and earned $3,860,582 in purses.

During the offseason, SceneDaily is taking a look at the top 35 in 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup driver points. Here’s how Gordon’s season unfolded:

By the numbers: Gordon's top finish of third came at Lowe's Motor Speedway in May. He opted not to drive in the race at Richmond, putting David Gilliland in his car so he could compete in the off-road series, but still managed to finish 34th in the standings. Gordon earned one top-five finish this season and endured nine DNFs.

Season highlights: Gordon had several key moments this season. First came the announcement that he would shift to Toyotas for the season, then came his off-road success. In the five-race Score series, Gordon won two events. On the Cup side, he kept his team locked into the field week after week and enters 2010 locked into races once more.

Key setbacks: Unfinished races hampered Gordon's effort. He suffered a pair of engine failures and retired early because of accidents because of an accident six times. He also had a drive-shaft failure. And then there was the 50-point penalty, which came after the Coca-Cola 600 in May when he was violated a rule concerning the rear axle housing.

Newsworthy moment: Gordon's most newsworthy moment came in addressing the 2010 season, in which he is seeking sponsorship. Gordon announced this year that he is losing sponsor Jim Beam, which leaves him with a lack of sponsorship for next season. The driver says that he plans to run the opening eight races of the year and then see what happens based on his sponsorship situation.

In his words: “Jim Beam has been a great partner for the past five years,” Gordon said. “I would like to thank them for their support through the years. They have been with me since we started the team in 2005, helping build our Cup team and aiding in its success. Great relationships have been formed, and I expect those to continue well into the future.”