Drivers try to attract team owners and sponsors so they have opportunities to compete. And there are various ways to achieve their goals.

Being fast, winning races and championships are major draws. Popularity for being marketed helps.

Then there's Robby Gordon's approach.

Ever since the Cerritos native moved into the NASCAR Nextel Cup series eight years ago, he has been rubbing the organization and other drivers wrong.

He speaks his mind when he shouldn't, and he has had incidents on the track. He's not an unreasonable person but often is misunderstood or is in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Conflict gets you exposure," Gordon said. "When you are not one of the normal (drivers), you push someone over to get to be a normal (driver on the tour)."

Results have been there on occasion. Gordon has won three races. But there has been plenty of bad publicity. Through it all, he has been sought out as a driver at various levels. He brings the bottom line to a team -- face time in front of cameras for the sponsors.

Being a California boy, NASCAR will use him a little extra this week for promotion of the Nextel Cup race at Fontana's California Speedway on May 2.

"We've been fortunate," Gordon said. "We get the exposure with the results, or in other ways. Last year we were (considered) fifth in notoriety. So we are getting exposure."

His primary path to attention last year was winning both the road course events. At the first one, in Sonoma, he and fellow driver Jeff Gordon (no relation) were in a yelling match about Robby racing after the yellow flag.

The violation of a gentleman's agreement spilled into the post-race press conference. The issue dominated the driver interviews, so the media turned the race into a minor event compared with the feud.

Over the course of many seasons, Robby Gordon has been stuck in the low top 20 of the season standings. And there were unfounded press reports earlier this month about him being fired from Richard Childress Racing.

The team plans to improve with Robby Gordon in the car, but it can't be overlooked that the driver brings sponsorship to the team. He never has trouble in that department.

"For us, sponsorship has been great, but it is tough out there," he said. "The economy hasn't fully recovered, yet. And that makes it difficult to be competitive in the Cup level. Forty percent of this is pieces, parts and people."

Robby Gordon also owns his Busch Series team, which is fifth in the season standings. He has a 25-race deal for events at the same site as the Cup races.

"We've been real strong with the Busch car all year," he said. "Nextel Cup as well, but we haven't been getting the results in the end. The Busch car helps a lot. We use a lot of the Busch car's (parts) and put in on the Cup car."

With an open-wheel and sports-car history, he frequently fields a team for the Indianapolis 500. This year will be the fifth time he attempts to compete in that race in the morning and then the 600-mile Cup event later in the afternoon.

"We are fortunate enough (to compete in both races) because we can," he said. "We've been performing on the racetrack. We can go out and be competitive. If I qualify 20th and race at the back of the field, I wouldn't do it. I do it because I'm competitive. I'm fortunate to have an owner who allows me to do that."

Robby Gordon draws criticism for being so busy or for being distracted with feuds and other types of racing. If he concentrated on Nextel Cup, critics say, he would improve in the standings.

"People talk about focus, or the lack of focus, but all I do is race," he said. "This just helps my focus."

In the end, he fields teams capable of winning any kind race. That's every driver's idea of a good situation.

Said update

After the Trans-Am race at last weekend's Grand Prix of Long Beach, Carlsbad's Boris Said couldn't convince series officials that he was slighted at the end of the last weekend's event.

In his protest, Said cited the rule that drivers on the lead lap must be tightly lined up with the lapped traffic sent to the back on a restart with less than 10 laps to go. Said was in third during a late restart in Long Beach. Because the leaders were not bunched together, Said didn't have an opportunity to compete for the win.

Upset about the ruling, Said claimed he won't race in Trans-Am again. However, there's still plenty of work. Said is running full time in Grand-Am, endurance racing with BMW and has the usual opportunities to drive the two NASCAR Nextel Cup road courses. He also is driving in the night Cup race at California Speedway in September.

Pit passes

• Temecula's Jerry Toliver finished second in the NHRA Funny Car class last weekend in Baytown, Texas, after his engine exploded in qualifying.

• Nextel Cup regular Tony Stewart plans to race in the Busch Series race at California Speedway next weekend.

• Rain washed out racing at the area tracks last weekend, which means the SCRA debut at Barona Speedway has been pushed back to next Saturday.

STARTING LINE

NASCAR

Nextel Cup

Aaron's 499

SITE: Talladega Superspeedway (tri-oval, 2.66 miles, 33 degrees banking in turns)

SCHEDULE: Sunday, race, 10:30 a.m.

FAST FACTS: Rusty Wallace's win last week was the 55th of his career, moving him past Lee Petty for eighth place on the all-time list. … Dale Earnhardt Jr. has more Cup wins at Talladega (four) than any other track.

Busch Series

Aaron's 312

SITE: Talladega Superspeedway

SCHEDULE: Today, race, 11 a.m.

FAST FACTS: Defending champion David Green has six top-10 finishes in seven races this season. … Joe Nemechek became the first and only pole sitter to win this race in 1998.

FORMULA ONE

San Marino Grand Prix

SITE: Imola, Italy (Enzo and Dino Ferrari Autodrome road course, 3.057 miles, 15 turns)

SCHEDULE: Today, qualifying, 6 a.m.; Sunday, race, 4:30 a.m.

FAST FACTS: Kimi Raikkonen has yet to finish a race this season after placing second in last year's championship standings. … Softer tires are normally used in this race because of the cooler temperatures.

AMA

Supercross

SITE: Salt Lake City

SCHEDULE: Today, qualifying, 11 a.m.; heat racing, 6 p.m.

FAST FACTS: Murrieta's Ivan Tedesco clinched the Western Regional 125cc title last week in Dallas. … Menifee's Chad Reed has a 40-point lead over Kevin Windham in the 250 division with two races left.

Statistics

NASCAR

Nextel Cup

Points standings

1. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 1,167, 2. Kurt Busch 1,162, 3. Matt Kenseth 1,155, 4. Jimmie Johnson 1,088, 5. Elliott Sadler 1,069, 6. Tony Stewart 1,067, 7. Jeff Gordon 1,051, 8. Rusty Wallace 1,010, 9. Kasey Kahne 1,007, 10. Kevin Harvick 1,003, 11. Ryan Newman 994, 12. Bobby Labonte 971, 13. Sterling Marlin 955, 14. Jamie McMurray 939, 15. Jeremy Mayfield 880, 16. Joe Nemechek 858, 17. Dale Jarrett 855, 18. Mark Martin 850, 19. Ward Burton 811, 20. Casey Mears 804.

Busch Series

Points standings

1. Michael Waltrip 1,033, 2. David Green 1,025, 3. Kyle Busch 972, 4. Martin Truex Jr. 968, 5. Robby Gordon 962, 6. Jason Keller 924, 7. Johnny Sauter 913, 8. Bobby Hamilton Jr. 870, 9. Tim Fedewa 862, 10. Johnny Benson 829, 11. Mike Bliss 821, 12. Kevin Harvick 790, 13. Ron Hornaday 784, 14. David Stremme 783, 15. Greg Biffle 782, 15. Jason Leffler 782, 17. Kasey Kahne 743, 18. Kenny Wallace 733, 19. Robert Pressley 712, 20. Stacy Compton 709.

Craftsman Truck Series

Points standings

1. Carl Edwards 486, 2. Travis Kvapil 464, 3. Dennis Setzer 455, 3. David Reutimann 455, 5. Mike Skinner 424, 6. Matt Crafton 407, 7. Rick Crawford 406, 8. Chad Chaffin 396, 9. Bobby Hamilton 395, 10. Jon Wood 388, 11. Terry Cook 366, 12. Jack Sprague 354, 13. Ted Musgrave 350, 14. Bill Lester 345, 15. Shane Hmiel 334, 16. Shane Sieg 321, 16. Brandon Whitt 321, 18. David Starr 320, 19. Andy Houston 309, 20. Hank Parker Jr. 300.

CHAMP CAR

Points Standings

1. Paul Tracy 32, 2. Bruno Junqueira 29, 3. Sebastien Bourdais 27, 4. Patrick Carpentier 24, 5. Mario Dominguez 21, 6. Justin Wilson 20, 7. Ryan Hunter-Reay 17, 8. Alex Tagliani 15, 9. Mario Haberfeld 13, 10. Rodolfo Lavin 11, 11. Michel Jourdain Jr. 10, 12. A.J. Allmendinger 9, 13. Nelson Philippe 8, 14. Roberto Gonzalez 7, 15. Oriol Servia 6, 16. Jimmy Vasser 5, 17. Alex Sperafico 4, 18. Tarso Marques 3.

FORMULA ONE

Points standings

1. Michael Schumacher 30, 2. Rubens Barrichello 21, 3. Jenson Button 15, 4. Juan Pablo Montoya 12, 5. Fernando Alonso 11, 6. Jarno Trulli 11, 7. Ralf Schumacher 7, 8. Takuma Sato 4, 8. David Coulthard 4, 10. Felipe Massa 1, 10. Mark Webber 1.

INDY RACING LEAGUE

Points standings

1. Dan Wheldon 123, 2. Tony Kanaan 117, 3. Helio Castroneves 106, 4. Darren Manning 90, 5. Scott Dixon 82, 6. Sam Hornish Jr. 77, 7. Buddy Rice 76, 7. Tora Takagi 76, 9. Alex Barron 64, 10. Kosuke Matsuura 62, 11. Tomas Scheckter 61, 11. Scott Sharp 61, 13. Bryan Herta 59, 14. Dario Franchitti 52, 15. Greg Ray 48, 16. A.J. Foyt IV 46, 17. Robbie Buhl 44, 17. Mark Taylor 44, 19. Ed Carpenter 42, 20. Adrian Fernandez 24.

Rudd helps Wood Brothers end drought

Ricky Rudd gave the Wood Brothers team its first pole in 20 years, taking the top spot Friday in qualifying for the NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway.

To get it done, Rudd had to beat the intimidating DEI tandem of Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr. They have won 10 of the last 13 races at Talladega and Daytona, the tracks where NASCAR slows the cars with carburetor restrictor plates.

Rudd, in his second season driving for one of NASCAR's oldest teams, turned a fast lap of 191.180 mph in his Ford. Then he then sat and waited for the Chevrolets of Waltrip and Earnhardt -- both among the fastest in practice -- to take their shots.

Each came up short. Waltrip, who won here last fall, starts second Sunday in the Aaron's 499. Earnhardt qualified third.

Waltrip, just two spots below Rudd in the 46-car qualifying line, had a lap of 190.974. Earnhardt, one of the last drivers in line, hit 190.336.

"We did watch pretty hard in the transporter after our run," Rudd said. "Of course, Earnhardt was our biggest concern, but we dodged that bullet."

The pole was Rudd's 29th and first since June 2002 on the road course in Sonoma. The last pole for the Wood Brothers, by Buddy Baker, came 630 races ago, on March 18, 1984 in Atlanta.

-- Associated Press

Buhl retires

Robbie Buhl, one of the Indy Racing League's original drivers, has competed in his last race behind the wheel.

Buhl said he is retiring as a driver and will focus his efforts as co-owner of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. A new team driver will be announced next week during testing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Formula One changes

Formula One wants to reduce the cost of operating a team. That goal is part of the proposed rule changes outlined by International Automobile Federation president Max Mosley in a letter to six team leaders.

He would also like to improve the spectacle of racing, minimize electronic driver aids, encourage a full grid of 24 cars and urge new teams to enter Formula One.

Only 20 cars are now competing. The Arrows and Prost teams folded in recent seasons, leaving empty spaces at the back of the grid.

The proposals will be discussed by the governing body May 4 in Monaco. Official proposals must be submitted by June 30. Any rule changes that might come from these proposals would not take effect until 2008.

Thompson case update

Orange County prosecutors had no authority to charge a man with the slaying of racer-promoter Mickey Thompson and his wife outside their suburban Los Angeles County home, a state appeals court ruled.

An attorney for Michael Goodwin said he would seek his client's immediate release from Santa Ana jail following the ruling by the 4th District Court of Appeals. Otherwise, Goodwin could be freed when the ruling becomes final in 60 days, barring an appeal.