Hi, everyone,

Where do I start? We have had so much going on with our team, and with sponsorship, it has been a crazy couple of weeks. I guess I will start with the question that everyone has asked me: "What happened to your sponsor?" Well, to tell you the truth, as everyone knows, the economy is not the best, and BrakeSafe came on board selling products to car dealerships. We all know the car business is not the best right now. You can figure out the rest. So, our family business, Shelor.com, stepped in and became the primary sponsor on the car.

We are really excited to be a part of the DSR organization. However, we are still hunting very aggressively to find a new marketing partner for the rest of the year and for years to come. I understand that there are many teams also pursuing sponsorship, but I feel like we are in the best situation to bring on a new marketing partner because we have a great program with DSR. The exposure you get just being associated with DSR is huge, and they have phenomenal facilities, not to mention the hospitality area is one of the biggest on the strip. Also, our car is running great. With that in mind, I feel like we have a lot to offer a sponsor.

Now, let me catch you up on what we have been doing on the car. We went down to West Palm Beach to do some testing on Monday. Man, what a long day! We made seven laps. We started at 9 that morning and finished up at 9:45 that night. We were one lap shy of fitting two races into one day. I really felt for the guys; they worked so hard. Their shirts were solid white from sweat. They did a great job with no mistakes and that says a lot because they were dead tired at the end of the day.

I tell you, those guys love what they do for a living. They are all doing so well and learning fast. Someone else who is doing a great job is our assistant crew chief Glen Huszar. He is really stepping up and doing a great job on the race car. He has so many responsibilities on the car, from ordering parts to plumbing the car, and any problems that happen out there, he deals with. You ought to see this guy fabricate! He can build you anything. Tommy seems to be a great teacher, and Glen is really learning fast. It's cool to watch him teach the rest of the guys new things.

Speaking of learning, we learned so much during the test session, even though we didn't run any killer numbers. We got a lot of great data, and, man, that West Palm Beach track is killer to run on.

After the long day at the track, Tommy set up a fishing trip for the next day, and that was a great time. We met up at 6 that morning, and it was off to Sailfish Marina, where we got on this really fancy yacht. It was so nice that I couldn't believe that we were going fishing on it, but when they put the live bait in the live well I knew it was game on. The captains were great but the best part was to get to hang out with Ace (Ed McCulloch), Tommy (DeLago), Glen (Huszar), Ronnie (Thompson), and Ron (Capps). The fish weren't really biting, so it turned into a really nice boat ride. It was cool to get out there relax and cut up a little with everyone.

So, now I'm all rested up for the Gainesville race and qualifying starts. It is really hot out on the track so it makes it a little hard to figure out, but Tommy hits it right on the head and puts us in the No. 5 spot on the second lap. My teammate Ron landed in the No. 6 spot. These cars run so close to each other, and I think that comes a lot from Tommy and Ace working so well together. It's really cool to sit back and watch them work. We ended up getting bumped back to the No. 7 spot, and we would have Robert (Hight) first round with lane choice. Robert's team was having some trouble getting the car down the track, so even though it was a tough draw, I knew they were having some problems.

On race day I got up and had a great breakfast with Jim McLean from Gates Belts and Hose. We had a great talk, and I knew it was a great start to a great day. I still had butterflies, though, going into first round against Robert, but I knew that Tommy was going to make it run a good number. I just had to keep it in the groove. It felt so good to get around first round and be heading into the second round against Ashley (Force Hood). All I was thinking about was that I am not going to let her beat me again, but, man, was it a tight race. We came out on top. We were matched up against Tony (Pedregon) for the next round, and I could taste the final. We were so close, we just needed to get around him, and we would have a chance to get a Wally. Well, we left the starting line, and he had me covered up on the Tree. We ran 4.161 to his 4.160. It was a good race, and we were so close, but I let it slip through my fingers.

So, now I am at home doing lots of reps on the practice Tree and getting ready for the next race in Texas. Hope to see you all out there!

Later,
Matt Hagan