Hi all. After Memphis, I flew home to Northwest Arkansas and I got to spend some quality time with my mom. My dad and brother were out on a construction job. It was really nice to spend time in the home I grew up in. I had a great time, but I need to spend some money and buy a better bed. My old bed is really uncomfortable and I really don’t like sleeping in it.



While at home, my best friend Chad Campbell likes to run me ragged. My first morning at home, Chad picked me up and we went over to Crossland Construction and put together an associate deal for the Dallas race. I knew of the Crosslands growing up and it was nice to have some support from a local company from where I grew up. As some of you may know, we have been trying to get a drag strip in Northwest Arkansas. We’re getting really close to finalizing some plans. For those that don’t know the area, I think it would be a fan-favorite spot. It’s a beautiful place in the Ozarks and there are a lot of fun things to do. I think it would be one of the spots people look forward to attending.



Ryan Haas, our marketing guy, picked me up Thursday morning and we were off to Dallas. I’ve never been accident prone until this year. On the drive to the Dallas race, I walked into a gas station and I slipped and fell on the floor. As I’m on the floor, some lady put a "Slippery When Wet" sign next to me. It really bothered my knee for a bit. Ryan was outside waiting for me and looked at me and knew I slipped on the floor because he almost fell too. It seems like I’m getting hurt a lot these days. Thankfully, only three more races and I’ll have a few months to heal.



That afternoon, we had a busy day. We went to the Motorplex, to Holt CAT’s location in Dallas, and to the Dallas Stars game. It was a fun day. The folks at Holt were very enthusiastic about sponsoring our car for the weekend. Peter Holt’s father was one of the men that started Caterpillar many moons ago. We spent nearly two hours at the dealership. After that, we went to the Dallas Stars game. We did an autograph session at American Airlines Center with a group of other drivers including my favorite Top Fuel driver Hillary Will. They had a few suites for all the NHRA teams. We used it as a team bonding event. It was great. I’m not much into hockey, but I like the fighting.

Rob Flynn was explaining to me that all the young guys are trying to make a name for themselves in the pre-season. Rob is a big hockey guy being from Canada, so I can learn the game from him. After that, we went to one of my favorite restaurants on the tour, Three Forks. The chef and owner, Chris Vogeli, came out and talked with us. They have a Winner’s Circle photo of us from Englishtown last season on the wall and the food was spectacular like always. It’s pretty cool being on the Three Forks wall of fame with some real-life celebrities.



We were pretty good at Dallas, but not stellar. We had the monster match-up in the first round with Tony Schumacher and the Army car. It was the typical deal that if you didn’t make a good run on Friday night, you weren’t qualified well and they missed that run and ended up 13th. We had a tough, tough draw, but got by them. We didn’t make a great run, but managed to win. It was great to beat them as they’re the best, but as quickly as we earned the points lead back, we lost it when we fell to Larry Dixon in the second round. It’s tough in this Countdown. We have to have a good showing at Richmond to make the Countdown to One. I’m biased, but I still like the old system where we’d have a 120-point lead.



I hadn’t been home in Las Vegas in more than two weeks and I haven’t left my house much since being home, other than to go to the gym or see the personal trainer. I’m off to Richmond in a few days. Have a great week.



Hot Rod