Sorry it's been so long since I updated the blog. I've been on the busy side of things and my biggest motivator for writing blogs, PR Ted, is no longer with our team. I have to give a big thank you to Ted for all the great writing he did for me and the team. He does a great job promoting drag racing and I look forward to seeing him back on the tour shortly.

Besides Ted's departure, the rainout in Reading and having to travel back and forth to the northeast has put me behind in a few things in life. I can't tell you guys how happy I am to finally get Reading over with. It's a great race track and the fans are great but it's a lot of extra work for all of the crewmembers and racers. It was a good weekend for our team, but not as good as it should have been. Earning the No. 1 qualifier was great for our Skoal Racing Team. That helped us take over the lead in the Skoal Showdown, which is great. Even though it is really early in the Skoal Showdown chase, we are pretty happy because our sponsor likes us to be competitive in the event they fund.

Hopefully we can keep up the great performance we've had lately. Mike Green and the guys have done such a good job that it makes my job even more exciting.

Reading was a little like a roller coaster ride for me. I helped our team earn a first-round victory with a holeshot. But the next round, we lost on a holeshot. It was a great high and a real low in a matter of a couple of hours. The good news is that I feel great about our chances of winning again before the season is over. We have the right car, the right crew chief, the best crew and all the best equipment. Our team has worked very hard all year and I think it's going to pay off at least one more time.

Melanie had a great weekend too and she was back in a final round for the first time since Chicago. Hopefully she can come on like she did in the start of the season and make a run at the championship. We both tested on Monday after Reading, probably for different reasons. We tested some new parts for next season and Mel was testing tune-ups to see if they can improve on the performance they regained this past weekend.

We shook the tires really hard on the first run Monday and I really wish we could have gone home so I could have seen the chiropractor this week. My neck has been good lately, but now that is out the window. The good news is that we liked what we saw using the new parts and hopefully that puts us a little ahead of the pack going into next season. It's never too early to start thinking about the next season. Mel’s car continued to run well Monday and she's hopeful it will continue to run well in Richmond.

After testing in Reading we had dinner and then went bowling with my guys. Everyone puts in such long hours at the track it's always good to just sit down and eat together outside of the race track. On Tuesday we headed out to Richmond. After driving through the D.C. area Tuesday afternoon, I think I might have to give D.C. the award for the worst drivers in the United States. It took about four and half hours to get to Richmond, but it was stressful most of the way. We fueled up and rolled into the track about five. We parked out in the lot with all the other rigs and I called some friends that moved to Richmond a couple of years ago. They where happy to see us coming back to Richmond to race. We met up with them last night and went out to dinner. One of the advantages of traveling around the country is that it is always good to catch up with friends in different cities.

We got back to the track about midnight last night and got up this morning and parked. The weather forecast doesn’t look too good for the weekend right now, but I’ve learned over the past couple weekends that the weatherman isn’t always right. Sunday in Reading was supposed to be a wash and it turned out to be absolutely beautiful. We’ll just keep our fingers crossed and pray that the rain will hold off until we pack up and leave on Monday. I’m ready to have a weekend at home and not have to do another make-up weekend race.

One of the things I promise to work on it getting better at writing the blog instead of just dictating it to Ted. Wish us luck in Richmond. It's good to be back there.