A Statistician No More

During the inaugural G2 Auto Racing Season, FBG Racing CEO Frank Gordon could be found “cooking the books” every day between a race and the following week's qualifying, analyzing every number he could find in order to get the edge for that weekend. He looked at how each driver competed at that particular race, at that track, even at tracks of that size. Now that he's expanded his company's scope to include the Busch Series, Gordon finds that analyzing statistics really does him no good.
“My team in the Busch Series this year is almost completely green”, stated Gordon yesterday. “I have a solid Buschwacker in my active pool, but only one driver who isn't considered a rookie.” Gordon is referring to Shane Hmiel, whose 10 starts in the 2004 Busch season has primed him for a solid run in the No. 32 Trimspa/Winfuel Chevrolet. Many were concerned with Gordon's choice of rookie Reed Sorenson for his team captain. With only five starts in the 2004 season, most would have assumed he would have picked someone with more races under their belt. “I'm not the least bit concerned,” says Gordon flatly. “He had great stats for those five starts, and he's already putting up impressive numbers so far this year. He's the right man for the job, no question about it.”
In addition to Hmiel and Sorenson, FBG Racing's Busch program boasts rookie Carl Edwards, who only made one Busch Series start last season, and Ryan Hemphill, who has had no prior NASCAR experience, having been pulled from the ARCA Series to start for FBG Racing.
So what method will Gordon use this year? “Well, the practice times and qualifying will tell me just about all I need to know. Usually, if the guys are fairly consistent during practice, they'll be consistent during the race, no matter where they qualified. I'll just pick the guys who look good that day.”