"We didn't call him," Andretti grinned. "He called us." Gordon found himself in the AGR car for the May 25 race, then found himself on the front row.
"We're not going to count our chickens before they hatch," Gordon said. "But we'll get them lined up, at least."
Gordon, a regular competitor in the NASCAR Winston,Cup Series, will compete in both the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day, a feat he's accomplished twice before. Immediately after the Indy 500, Gordon will fly fromIndianapolis to Charlotte, N.C., where he'll race his stock car.
"I think we've got it down to a science," Gordon said.
In retrospect, Andretti said he was more than happy to take Gordon's call.
"We answered and we were happy to answer," Andretti said. "We just felt like, 'Well, he's a guy who stands on the gas and can win the race for us.' It just all seemed to work for us."