7/28/07
We started off okay but were suffering from rear brake problems after changing the rear brake rotors this week. No changes for the heat and we started off 6th and coming off of 2 we were 2nd and finished there. The car was pretty good, but they way the track has been lately, we knew we needed to make some changes to be ok for the feature. I started 13th and tried to get to the top as soon as possible. The car was okay at the way bottom, but terrible 1 lane up. It was pretty good at the top, but we still didn't seem to have the speed to make any moves. I was racing my ass off and not able to grab many spots. By 3/4 through the feature I was trying to crack the top 10 when the 09 broke right in the middle of turn 2 and came to a stop just as I arrived at full speed. I completely destroyed the front end and we were all done on lap 17.
7/22/07
A night best left forgotten. Rich Salisbury was gracious enough to offer me a ride in his 2nd car. Which of course I accepted. We struggled to find the handle all night, fighting a wicked tight race car. Jimmy and I made some pretty serious adjustments all night long to free the car up and I thought we would be okay for the feature. I started 16th and it was bedlam right from the start. We didn't finish 1 lap before the caution flew, and on the ensuing restart, it quickly got worse. The 145 and the 4, leading the race, got together at the end of the back stretch and the whole field quickly piled in. I got banged up a little bit and thought I had avoided the worst of it when a car piled into my left rear at the very last minute, ripping the rear out of the car. As bad as that was, poor Rich took the tumble of his life, flipping several times and destroying his primary car. Not a good night.
7/21/07
After 3 nights of monster trucks and a week full of rain, it was obvious that the track did not get much attention this week. We were terrible in warmups, the car was wicked tight even though there was very little bite anywhere but way up top. We freed up the car a bunch. I started 5th in the heat and in a couple of laps I was able to move to 2nd and that's where we finished. Unfortunately I have no idea what the heck to do to make the car better, it was both loose and tight at the same time. We tried a couple of changes for hot laps and I still didn't like the car, so Jimmy took matters into his own hands while I took Matt's 358 car out for a few laps in the Mod feature. When I got back I didn't even ask what they had done to the car, I lined up 11th and started racing. We made 1 lap before the caution came out and I was still 11th. I was able to make some progress on the restart and about 6 laps later I was 8th when the next caution came out. I took off for the high side on the restart and grabbed 3 more cars before the caution flew again on lap 10. The race went green the rest of the way and I was able to pick my way to 2nd with about 2 to go and just ran out of time to catch Frankie.
7/14/07
Initially we weren't supposed to have any heat races tonight, but instead we had 3 "B Mains", 6 laps each. A rose by any other name I guess... The car was pretty good in warmups, just a little snug on entry in turn 3. 1 and 2 were already slick and didn't look like they would get any better as the night went on. I started 5th in the heat, I mean B main, and learned my lesson from last week. I slipped into 4th and rode it most of the way out till the last lap, grabbing 3rd at the line. We had no Jimmy this week, so of course we dropped a dime to get his input. We decided to leave the car alone and try and get a little more stagger. The car was definitely better in hot laps. It was about 2 hours later before we were to hit the track again. Bobby and I decided to make a couple more quick changes before I rolled off 13th in the feature. We had a quick caution on lap 1 and I moved into 12th. On the restart I could just feel that the car was working perfectly. I grabbed a bunch of spots in the next few laps till the next caution flew on lap 5 or 6. I restarted 6th and grabbed 3 spots by the time I came off of 2. A lap and a half later I moved to the lead. It just awesome having a car this good. Unfortunately it all came to an end about 3/4 from the finish when something in the drive train broke and I rolled to a stop.
7/7/07
The day started off pretty well. It was slightly overcast and the track started off with quite a bit of grip. We were quick in warmups, but decided to make some changes for the heat. I rolled off 5th and fell into 4th pretty quickly. The 3 guys in front of me were getting pretty racy, and I caught up to them quickly. Coming off of 2 on lap 3 the 2 guys in front of me started to wreck and I had to spin to avoid them. I restarted from the rear and was completely unable to make any progress, the guys in front of me were driving like maniacs all over the place. After a few more cautions I finally made it up to 6th which got us in the feature but not handicapped. Jimmy made a few more changes for hot laps, and we made even more changes to tighten the car up for the feature after that. I started 18th and it was just crazy in front of me, like a pack of angry bees. I stayed pretty conservative and when the caution flew on lap 5 I think I was 12th. There were of course several more cautions and I had to check up pretty hard to miss a few wrecks happening right in front of me. I finally cracked the top 10 after halfway and somehow managed to run into the back of the 83 for the second week in a row trying to pass him in turn 2. The contact messed up the toe in and the car got a little tricky to drive from that point on. By the end of the show had an 8th place finish for my efforts