Hi everyone!
 
What a weekend for our team! We came off some really great testing and just knew that we were going to have a terrific race -- but the weather had other plans for us. The rain was awful, and standing around waiting for the track to dry was even worse.
 
When I get to the track, I usually expect to have things to do to keep busy, but when it rains there just wasn’t much to do, so I kept wandering around trying to do something! One thing the rain does let you do is get to know people – take for instance Ron Capps. This guy is way cool and he has gone out of his way to make me feel like part of the team -- and when you are a rookie that means a lot. Some drivers just do their own thing at the track, keeping to themselves, but he has invited me to some really cool gigs, and I got to spend some time with is family, too. And, hey, he is a hell of a driver and has been bouncing some ideas at me to help me with my game, too.
 
Anyway, I am taking it all in stride and trying to not let it all go to my head. Everyone has his own way of dealing with pressure, and for me it is to get in my car and get strapped in. I know this sounds crazy but when I am outside the car before the run I can feel the pressure, but for some reason, when I get my gear on and get in the car the pressure goes away. I am still excited, but I just feel like it is all said and done when I get in there. I just have to hang on to it and make it go A to B.
 
Speaking of pressure, this weekend it felt like I was in a final in a race because we were only going to get one run to qualify and we had to make it count -- and we did it! It was not pretty, but we put the car in the # 14 spot, so we got to play on Sunday our first time out of the gate!
 
I think what happened to us was that we only had one lap to go off of, and the weather was such a crap shoot that it was a guessing game as far as what to do with the set-up. Some people hit it and some missed it. The biggest thing is that my teammate Ron won, and that's great for DSR and NAPA. Those guys have a really great team, too, but I feel like our team is right there also. We just have to keep our head up and our momentum forward, so I am looking forward to the next race in Phoenix.
 
See you in Arizona! – let’s hope it’s a dry heat!