In a Nut Shell . . .

Martinsville

We have never run very well at Martinsville in the past, but after a great test I was really looking forward to go there. Martinsville is a really cool place to watch the race. You really feel like you are right on top of the trucks and you can see the drivers working the wheel and see them putting the bumpers to each other. This track is working it way to the top of my “favorites” list.

We arrived to the track on Thursday afternoon for tech. No problems with getting through inspection, so it was off to the Best Lodge (one of Martinsville’s finest hotels).
Friday was the day to turn our luck around at the half-mile. Our first run out, Beak came over the radio and said it was horrible. All the anticipation was like letting air out of a balloon. Right away Jason called out some changed to make and Beak said we were heading in the right direction. As practice continued, session we slowed down so Bobby and Jason got together and talked about what changes to make before we made them. Every change we made was positive. The next thing we knew was we had 30 to 40 laps on the tires and we were still running fast times. As practice was coming to an end we had to make some qualifying runs.

Our first run was way too tight. We thought with the changes we made that we were going to be good, but that wasn’t the case. We had to scramble and make another run with more changes. This time the truck was better, but we still had some work to do. We also didn’t want to hurt our race mode, because we knew we were fast for the longer runs.

We put our best piece out there and wound up 18th on the starting grid. It was not what we had hoped for but we knew we could build on it.

I spent Friday evening signing autographs at the Bobby Scruggs Memorial Foundation event that was held at the track. I sat with Bobby Labonte and we talked about his Quarter Midget track in Salisbury . . . this is where Chase went to test a car. After the event, I went over to Track Side to see DW give Beak his Rolex.

Saturday morning we had to set up the pits and push the truck on to the starting grid. We were in pit stall No. 42 which is right in the middle of turns 3 & 4 (excellent seats).

As the command to start the engines was given, for some reason the No. 17 didn’t want to start. After a brief scare, it finally stated up. Turned out it was just starving for fuel. The first part of the race the truck was a little tight off the corner. During the race I usually scan the other teams to see how they are running or to find out when they are planning on pitting. I wasn’t sure what to do during this race because things happen so quickly at Martinsville that I didn’t want to miss anything going on with our truck. So I decided to go back in forth between our channel and scanning the other teams. We made a slight adjustment during our first stop which seemed to help. Then shortly after that stop I saw Jason slam down his notebook . . . I changed back to our channel as quick as I could just in time to hear that the gear broke. That sent us behind the wall.

We struggled to get back out on the track and when we did, David had a bad vibration so they decided to park it.

Martinsville may be on top of my list, but we still don’t have a good finish there. Next Spring you can bet we will. Next is on to Atlanta. We are bringing Nikki (Truck No. 9) and it is fast . . . so hang on and

BRING IT!