I flew into Charlotte early. Usually, we don’t get to the races until Thursday, but we got into Charlotte on Tuesday to do some extra PR for the track and NHRA. That evening, they had a reception and open drags night. It was a welcome party for the NHRA race at zMax Dragway. I rode in with Antron and PR Ted and we were blown away by the facility. It’s an awesome place. I really mean what a facility zMax Dragway is. I got goose bumps just driving up to the place. We got to visit with Kurt Busch and Kasey Kahne and they were really nice guys. Kurt got to make his first ever pass down the drag strip. A lot of NHRA drivers were racing some fast street cars, but I chose to visit with people and mix and mingle on top of the tower. I know Antron went like 12.60 in an awesome S63 Mercedes.

The next day was press conference day. We had an event downtown with a Fan Fest. The weather was terrible. It was raining and hot and muggy, but it went off ok. The rain stopped for the press conference, but it hurt the fan walk up. Ironically, the weather was great the rest of the weekend. Bruton Smith must have a direct link to the weather Gods because the weather was great, just a bit hot and muggy. As long as it doesn’t rain, we’re happy. 

On Thursday, the guys on my crew got to go tour the Team Red Bull shop. That’s where our buddy Slugger Labbe works. They got the behind-the-scenes tour and had a really good time. They even thought they learned some stuff that might improve drag racing. Later that night, I went to a sponsor event with NHRA and IMG at the track. I got to spend some time with the IMG folks and bend their ears a little bit about our great sport. We talked about a permanent number system for the cars that way fans could relate with a sponsor and number like NASCAR.

For the race I was struggling during the week with some personal issues. I feel bad. I let my team, friends and family down. I haven’t made a mistake like that in the car in a long time. Against Antron, I was so amped up and probably put too much pressure on myself. I felt like I was over center, kind of like tuning up the race car too much. I anticipated the light on the Christmas Tree and started to push the pedal, but I didn’t and let go and went again, so I double-stepped the throttle. I feel like we had a car to compete, but I need to come back strong and redeem myself. We’ve done well at these next four tracks by either winning or going to the final at Dallas, Memphis, Richmond and Vegas, so we have a lot of confidence going into these next four races. We’re still only six rounds out, but we have to make a charge now.

I’ll end with a fashion tip. I was reading Men’s Health and I saw an ad for a new Dolce & Gabbana Fragrance called The One. I laughed and thought it had to be for me. I’ll have to go see if I like the fragrance and maybe it will help me find “the one.” LOL

That’s all for now. We’re off to Dallas on Thursday.