Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Gordon expects to be stretched thin Saturday

Friday, May 14, 2004 | 9:56 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Robby Gordon will have his eyes on the sky as well as his watch when qualifying begins Saturday for the 88th running of the Indianapolis 500.

Gordon, who is attempting to race in both the Indy 500 and the NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C., on May 30, will have only about five hours to qualify at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway before he is scheduled to fly to Virginia for Saturday night's NASCAR race at Richmond International Raceway.

Although the forecast for Saturday in Indianapolis calls for only a 20 percent chance of rain on Saturday, any bad weather could wreak havoc with Gordon's already tight schedule -- especially if Gordon believes he has chance on Saturday to make a run for the Indy 500 pole.

Gordon said he is "pretty sure" NASCAR team owner Richard Childress would make the trip with him to Indianapolis and help advise him whether he should wait out a potential delay or head to Richmond for the Cup race.

"(Childress) will be here to make the decision with me -- it will be easier to put the screws to him when he's here," Gordon joked. "I could stay almost all the way to the end (of qualifying), because the (Cup) race doesn't start until what, 7 or 7:30 (in Richmond).

"I don't want to get my Cup team all wound up, so please don't go off and say we're going to stay, because that's not the case. But if we have a legitimate shot at the pole and Richard's cool with it and Cingular is cool with it, then we will take those steps at that time."

If Gordon doesn't get to Richmond in time for Saturday's mandatory drivers' meeting, he would have to start at the rear of the field for the Cup race.

Gordon crashed his primary Indy car in Monday's practice and had to use his backup car on Tuesday and Wednesday. In his final practice before qualifying, Gordon turned a fast lap of 219.034 mph Wednesday -- about 3 mph off Tony Kanaan's fastest speed of 222.668 that day.

"We're back in the game," Gordon said. "I'd say we're back to where we were before the crash. It feels a lot better to go away (to Richmond) knowing we have a good car."

Gordon did not practice Thursday or today at Indy because of his commitments to compete in tonight's NASCAR Busch Series race in Richmond.

Henderson resident Al Unser Jr., a two-time winner of the Indy 500, was 19th on the day's speed chart at 217.959.

Rahal announced Thursday that he was changing the name of his IRL team to Rahal Letterman Racing.

"In 1996, I had the good fortune to enter into a business partnership with my longtime friend David Letterman in what has been known as Team Rahal," Rahal said. "I have always felt that the name Team Rahal didn't truly reflect the partnership or Dave's involvement in the business.

"He has been an integral part of the team's success over the past eight seasons and I can't think of a better place to announce this name change and to honor his involvement than the Indianapolis Motor Speedway."

Letterman, an Indiana native and lifelong auto racing fan, reacted to the team's name change with his typical self-deprecating humor.

"I'm very proud; it's a great day in my life," Letterman said in a prepared statement. "This is something I've dreamed of since I was a kid. I'll try not to embarrass the team."

It marked the third pole for Busch this season and his 10th top-10 start in 18 career Busch Series races. Jamie McMurray will start on the outside of the front row after posting a 129.211 mph qualifying speed.

Series points leader Martin Truex Jr. will start 17th and Michael Waltrip, who is second in points, will start 22nd. Busch is third in the series standings and trails Truex by 29 points.

Robby Gordon, who is fifth in points, qualified 10th.

Lynch is making his first of three starts in the car as part of Baldwin's "Hungry Drivers" program. Four young drivers will make three starts in the car and the driver with the best results at the end of the program will be considered for a full-time Busch Series ride next season.

Lynch, the defending NASCAR West Series champion, drives a Dodge in the West Series that is prepared by Las Vegas-based Orleans Racing. Lynch will celebrate his 24th birthday today.

Voting begins today and fans will be able to vote either by using a Nextel phone or logging on to www.nascar.com or www.foxsports.com. The driver who receives the most votes from fans by May 22 will be given an exemption into the All-Star race.