Week 18-5th

This past weekend was the 18th race of 2009, the end of the NASCAR Points Championship. With one race remaining the track points are still left to be settled, so the upcoming weekend should be awesome.

We found ourselves with a well prepared car. The guys did a great job fixing crash damage from the week before, and I felt like the car was really safe and prepared to be fast.

Practice went as planned. Car was decent in practice, right near the top of the speed charts, but in the second session car went away loose, meaning it wanted to spin out heading into and through the corner. We made some changes for qualifying.

I felt like qualifying laps were pretty solid. The first lap I upset the car on a bump and lost some time, but the 2nd lap the car drove in really deep and got off the corner pretty awesome. It felt great, but was only good for 5th quick. We made some subtle changes to make it better.

For the race I started inside row two and took the lead after the early caution. We led for quite a few laps and the car was really fast at that point, but even out front I felt like I had to hold it down quite a bit through the center of the turn. It wanted to push up in the middle. By lap thirty we were going away tight, which is when you turn the wheel but the car goes straight.

Reality set in when Jason Fraiser got by me on the inside. I was struggling keeping the car to the bottom and remaining fast. Eventually Natalie got me, then Holden, then Hughs. We dropped to 5th and were forced to ride the race out with a tight car.

Even though we were tight at the end of the night there were a bunch of high points.

1. We had some great restarts. I struggled a little this year restarting, but not last weekend. Very much improved.

2. We had some fast laps. After the last couple weeks of crash damage, fast is good. It was good to be fast.

3. The guys had a great tire change in practice. Fastest of the year. That may come in handy at the Fall Classic in a couple weeks where live pit stops win the race.

4. We discovered another set up condition that made the car tight. Like Edison, he failed at the light bulb a whole bunch before it worked. We will win a bunch of races on the 5/8's in my career.

5. I have the best group of guys working with me. I trust the car is safe, prepared, and capable of winning all the time.

6. FUN, FUN, FUN. I laid awake last night thinking of the Fall Classic in Yakima. I am not sure if I'm going yet, but I thought about how much fun that track is to drive.

With the season nearly over, it's hard to believe we've been racing for 6 months. I feel like I'm ready for another run!