Robby Gordon announced today that he’d returning to the NASCAR Winston Cup series in 2000. The announcement, while short on details, was presented with the Gordon flair when he said that he was here to stay.

"I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am to be returning to NASCAR country, and I do plan to stay here this time," said Gordon, who leaves the CART FedEx Championship Series after a season as its only owner-driver in 1999. "This brings us back to the most popular racing series in the world and we're committed to being here for the long haul. In this day and age, if you’re in the business of racing, you'd better be racing NASCAR."

Sponsorship for the Ford powered team will come from a cadre of associates that were with Gordon in his CART effort. Included in this package are Duracell, Menards and Hot Wheels. Gordon hopes to rotate these entities as primary sponsors on his car as he looks for "the big one".

Gordon, when away from the lectern and the microphone, hinted that he was far more organized with the start up effort but that since a good many deals were pending that he wasn’t at liberty to talk in-depth about them. He did off-handedly say that neither the #98 or the #77 teams where purchase targets of his as they weren’t "high visibility enough" for him.

Gordon did say that he’s got three engine deals lined up for his team and will choose a specific program when he and the team come up with final budget numbers. He, at this time, is leaning towards a Roger Penske lease, but he isn’t sure if he can swing the payments.