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5/21/05

We made some pretty significant changes to our setup this week, based on last weeks performance.  They definitely helped the car, it felt great and was pretty fast in warm-ups.  I started 5th in the heat and chilled for a couple of laps to let things settle a bit.  Not that I had much choice, the two guys in front of me went side by side for a little while.  I made it past them and set off after the 3 and the 25.  I caught them in a couple of laps and when Frank went wide coming off of 2 I slipped under him and then drove into 3 very deep to pull even with the 3 and ended up coming across the line first.  Jimmy and I made a couple of slight adjustments for the feature and we were set.  I started 12th and it was a little like last week.   The track was very fast and each time I got a run on someone I'd have to check up because they slowed suddenly.  We had a bunch of early cautions, but I never really got a break where I could get past anyone.  I missed a big mix up in turn 4 and once that was over with, I was able to pass a few cars.  By lap 13 I was up to 5th or so.  We had a restart and I took a run at the 80 going into 1.  Just as I did that, he came down to the bottom of the track and I had to pinch the car hard to avoid him.  I ended up spinning the car out.  I almost made a 360 but ended up stopped in the middle of the track.  I have no idea how everyone avoided me.  So to the end I go and I have no idea where I finished.  Something must have gone on in tech because they never did announce the finish. 

5/14/05

After threatening rain all day, it turned out to be a beautiful day at the track.  Warm-ups were pretty much the same as last week, although we had one minor problem with a plug wire coming loose.  I started the heat in 6th and quickly made my way to the front by lap 5.  Jimmy thought we could make some changes to make the car even better so we tried them during hot laps.  We stuck with that setup for the feature.  I rolled off 13th and was just completely boxed in and couldn't go anywhere.  We'd race a couple of laps and the caution would come out.  The outside row was cleaning my clock each time.  I think I dropped back to 15th or so by the time the race was halfway.  The track was wicked slick at both ends, more than usual.  Once the cars got strung out I was able to start moving forward and made it to 7th by the time the checkers flew.  

5/7/05

We finally made it to the track.  Although it was threatening rain, it actually wasn't too bad, other than the 50 degree temps and the 20mph wind.  Got on the track for warm-ups and the car felt great.  Jimmy said we were only average on the stop watch, but I didn't want to change a thing, the car felt so good.  All the setup changes we had made from 2 weeks ago were definitely the trick.  I was figuring on a pretty good starting spot in the heat because in the past, they handicapped using the last points race of the year.  Not this year though, they used the last 3.  So that got me 7th place for the heat.  I was feeling a little rusty but managed to make it up to 4th, the final handicapped spot without inflicting any damage to myself or anyone else.  I still felt like we didn't need to make any changes for the feature, so I went out in hot laps at full weight to see how we were.  We started the feature in 16th and for the first 3 laps I was just boxed in on the top.  I dropped to the bottom and picked up a couple of spots until there was a wreck in 3 and 4.  I thought I had it cleared, but I had to stall the car to miss everything.  So now we go to the back for the restart and coming down the backstretch I had a run on the bottom.  But then the cars started moving down further and further so I just went with it and passed about 5 or 6 cars before the end of the straight.  There was another caution not long after and every few laps I was picking off a car.  With about 5 laps to go I was 8th and pretty happy with that.  I managed to grab two more spots before the white flag and had a run on Frankie on the outside of 3 and 4 coming to the checkers.  He slid up a little bit and took my line so I crossed under and beat him to the flag by about a foot.  That put me in 5th, but I got moved up to 4th when the 250 got DQ'd for weight.

 

 

 

 

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