Robby's Top 10

Ok, I thought after yesterday's tough race we would talk about something more positive. If you had to rate Robby's top 10 drives in Nascar, what would they be?

1. Richmond 2003- Comes back from 4 laps down to nearly win, finishing 4th when the tires gave out.

2. New Hampshire-2001 First career nascar win

3. .Sonoma 2003- Second career win..dominant the whole race weekend

4. Infineon 2001- One of the best races to watch as a Robby fan. Robby continuously put on a clinic coming through traffic and dominating the race late in the going. Only Kevin Harvick on fresh tires late in the event prevented Robby's first win by repeatedly beating on Robby's back bumper causing Robby to lose focus and let Tony Stewart by late in the going

5. Atlanta-2006- Comes from the back of the field 3 times,. luck finally catches up with him as he has a flat tire late, regulating him to a 18th place finish.

6. Watkins Glen 2002- Yes he didn't win but Robby put on a clinic all day. Went from 7th to 2nd in one lap ( got 4 cars before turn one, lap one) and dominated the early going. Bad gear setting and poor pit stops doomed Robby to 3rd

7. Watkins Glen 2005- Yes, another one he didn't win but put on a clinic coming through the field after starting 38th, including a sideways pass in the grass through the bus stop under Kahne. Was in the lead by lap 21. Finished 2nd to a dominant 20 car.

8. Watkins Glen 2003- Third career win in Nascar and possibly the least impressive. Had a 5th place car but lucked out by ducking onto pit road when Rusty Wallace got stuck in the sand trap. Came out behind 3-5 cars that had no business up front, passed them and checked out.

9. Phoenix 2004- Strong run all day. Was running down Jeff Gordon for the lead late in the going raising hopes for a New Hampshire repeat. A blown motor (a rarity at RCR) ended his day with 10 laps to go.

10 Darlington 2004- a Contender all day, came in 4th at Nascar's toughest track

And yes, I have the top 6 on tape and 7 of the top ten races :). So, what are your picks?

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Matt on March 30, 2009 at 9:29am

Looks like you kept the list to Cup races. Most of the ones I could think to add would have been Busch races.

Very nice list, although the Gatoraide qualifying race win in 2002 was a nice little accomplishment. Another one was the Glen in 2001 when he had the fastest car but the in car camera started on fire.

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Permalink Reply by Lance on March 30, 2009 at 9:33am

it was actually 2003 when Robby won the duel. I did not include that race because if you watch that race, most guys were content to sit and ride. Robby was not. He made a huge move getting onto pit road that helped him win. Plus some big names were missing in that race, Earnhardt, Stewart, even Micheal Waltrip who at the time was a force in the plate races.

The Glen race in 2001 was highway robbery. Robby had that won and Nascar or NBC one screwed it up.

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Sweeney on March 30, 2009 at 10:00am

Busch Race Watkins Glen 2006. Robby Gordon & Kurt Busch. You know the one i'm talkin about :)

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&vi...

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Permalink Reply by Nena Patrick on March 30, 2009 at 11:21am

How about the race at Michigan in 2006 when he drove the 88 for Dale Jr. He had never drove that car and finished 3rd but should have won but Dale Jr spun Carl Edwards right in front of Robby when he was going for the lead. I was at that race and for a few moments we all through he won. Stupid Dale Jr!

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Permalink Reply by alan4s on March 30, 2009 at 11:35am

The Montreal Bush race belongs on the list somewhere, for several reasons.

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Permalink Reply by GrayAntiMatter on March 30, 2009 at 2:38pm

1. Watkins Glen - 2005

2. Richmond - 2003

3. Sears Point - 2001

4. Atlanta - 2004

5. Phoenix - 2004

6. Loudon - 2001

7. Sears Point - 1998

8. Watkins Glen - 2002

9. Darlington - 2004

10. Indy - 2003

One of my favorite RG races live, was the 96 Truck race at Vegas.

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Permalink Reply by GrayAntiMatter on March 30, 2009 at 2:42pm

Loudon - 2005 should probably be up there somewhere. RG was solid in the top ten when he was taken out....

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Permalink Reply by TOG on March 30, 2009 at 3:37pm

I think he was 4th at the time, and gaining on third....

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Permalink Reply by GrayAntiMatter on March 31, 2009 at 2:10am

I'm pretty sure he was in fourth, but I didn't want to overstate it....

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Permalink Reply by bighead on March 30, 2009 at 3:44pm

My favorite all time is Robby spins Kyle Bush in turn 4 to win Texas 4/5/2009........and the crowd went wild as Robby did donuts around a broken 18 car sitting on the start finish line and good ole Kyle gave his traditional bow (to Robby) as the smoke filled the air......

Wait I must have been dreamin the Atlanta race was the best...even though he didn't win

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Permalink Reply by Ben Cartwright on March 30, 2009 at 8:45pm

One that sticks out in my mind that already hasn't been mentioned is the Brickyard 400 in 2004, passed Jeff Gordon for the lead with a handful of laps left, clearly was on his way to an Indy victory, but in typical Robby luck the tire gave out and handed the win to Jeff.

Late in the 2004 season Robby had some great runs but something always happened to his car.

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Permalink Reply by Zippy on March 31, 2009 at 5:53am

Yes he did have some great runs in late 2004. Just like the phoenix race, Atlanta the race before he was one of the top 5 cars all day. I was at that race and he was only really getting beat by Mark Martin most of the race. Most all the field were a lap down at the 3/4 stage of the race but Robby was one of the drivers doing the lapping ! He had issues with his breaks at the end and NASCAR made him pit. I think he still finished 16th. Great car that was.
The day before he finished 4th in the Busch race.