Before racing on Friday, I started the race weekend with a trip to Dearborn, where Ford is located, on Thursday. I spent some time talking with two groups of kids about drag racing, the safety involved in the sport and then I took questions from the kids about racing. I tell ya, the questions that these kids came up with were incredible. There was one group of kids that were as young as five and they were asking about horsepower and speed and about the flames that come out on the side of the car. It was really a fun way to spend a normal travel day to the track.

Once we got to the track, our car was really consistent and competitive. We ended up qualifying in the No. 12 position, after four really strong runs down the track. Earning that position put us up against my best friend Tony Pedregon in the first round. Tony and I have been friends for a long time and he’s been someone that I can really talk to and take advice from in this sport. Knowing that he was in the next lane to me on Sunday was really exciting. It was a close run, but I was able to come away with the round win. I’m sure we’ll be up against each other many times this year.

The second round I was against Gary Densham. After getting a win against him, I was so excited about it because that meant we were going on to our first semifinal round. My team has been working so hard, so I was so excited to make it to the third round. When I looked at the bracket after the round, I saw that I was next up against another friend and mentor in John Force. The guy is a legend in this sport and to race him, with my name on his car and his name on my car, was just thrilling.

Our run was I think the closest pairing on the day. We had identical reaction times, but Force edged me by .003. When I pulled the chute, we had some issues, so at the end of the run, I ended up in the sand. There wasn’t any major damage to my car, just some cosmetic damage, but I ran him as hard as I could. It just wasn’t enough for that round. I’ll get another chance at him this year, but losing to a 14-time champion by only .003 was too bad.

After spending a couple of days at home, I’m now in St. Louis for the weekend. The one thing that I’ve said all season is that I want to be racing as much as possible. I’m excited about our first back-to-back weekend, and the crew and I are excited to carry what we learned in Atlanta, into this weekend’s race in St. Louis.