*if this is a dup, just delete it, I haven't had the time to be on and get caught up. ;)
Robby sounds up (sure would like to know why all the 'first of the season', not-so-happy, Robby media shot pics?) and excited about this year.
Anyway, I thought this was a nice read.

By SceneDaily Staff
Tuesday, February 10, 2009

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Robby Gordon expects Tony Stewart to be competitive in his new role as a NASCAR Sprint Cup owner/driver but sees some notable differences in the way Stewart’s new operation compares to his own.

Gordon points out that Robby Gordon Motorsports basically started from scratch in 2005, while Stewart’s Stewart-Haas Racing has operated since 2003 under the banner of Haas CNC Racing.

“I think those are two completely different scenarios,” Gordon said at Daytona International Speedway as teams prepare for the start of the 2009 season with Sunday’s Daytona 500. “One, Tony’s is not a startup team. It’s a team that’s been in business for six years now. So it’s completely different than how we did ours, which is fine. I’m happy for Tony to have his team and be partners with [co-owner] Gene Haas, but the buildings were in place, the cars were in place, the chassis dynos were in place; everything was in place when he walked into that deal.”

And that’s one of the reasons Gordon believes Stewart-Haas Racing can be competitive right out of the gate, with Stewart and Ryan Newman behind the wheel.

“I’m confident that they’re going to be competitive,” Gordon said. “He and Ryan are good race-car drivers. I welcome them to the ownership side of things. I think he’ll do a good job. Obviously, he can sell. What I mean by sell is, he can entertain sponsors and excite them, and that’s an important part of it.”

Gordon says that he and Stewart both have an advantage that some owners don’t because they are both drivers. He notes that the same is true of owners such as Richard Childress, who competed in NASCAR’s top series before handing over the wheel to Dale Earnhardt near the end of the 1981 season.

“I think Tony and myself, at the end of the day, we’re racers,” Gordon said. “You look at the ones that are successful today, they’re a little different than Tony and myself, but Richard Childress is a racer. … And the same thing for Tony and myself. This is what we do.

“We wake up every day to build our race teams and to not only beat each other but to try to beat everybody else, and I think there’s the passion side of it that makes a difference. That’s the difference between us and, for example, Hall of Fame [Racing]. I don’t think the guys are as passionate as we are about what we do.”

As for how Gordon expects to run this year, his expectations are high after an offseason switch from Dodge to Toyota.

Last season, he struggled to a 33rd-place points finish while netting just three top-10s in 36 outings. Two of those top-10s came at Daytona, where Gordon posted the 39th fastest speed in Sunday’s round of qualifying for the Daytona 500.

Gordon, who is guaranteed a spot in the race, will start 20th in Thursday’s first Gatorade Duel qualifier that will set part of the Daytona 500 grid.

“I think we’re going to have a good year,” he said, adding that unlike many teams, Robby Gordon Motorsports didn’t lay off employees during the offseason but rather added some. “I think we’re going to be very strong.”