A lot has been going on the last two weeks, so I wanted to take some time to catch everyone up on what’s been happening our team.

I got back to Rhode Island on Sunday night after the race in Topeka. Even though we went out in the second round, on a holeshot nonetheless, our team had a great weekend. We were the No. 2 qualifier for the show, which is our best position so far this season. I was so proud of my guys, and I was so happy for them to win the Full Throttle Pit Crew award for the first time. They really deserved it.

Each week, the team that wins Full Throttle award has to have a crewmember get up on stage during driver intros for a picture with the Full Throttle rep. This week, Seth on our team was the lucky one to accept our first award. His mom is going to be really excited to see is face if the photo ends up in National DRAGSTER. I’m pretty sure that he said she would frame it.

We started the race on Sunday beating Tony Pedregon in the first round. You know, you can count your best friends on one hand, and for me, Tony is the first on my list. He’s my dearest friend and a champion in this sport, so to beat him was really exciting for us. We went up against Gary Scelzi in the second round for the first time this year. He was having a really good weekend and had a great reaction time that gave him the round win. I was pretty disappointed about losing on a holeshot, because my guys gave me a great car, but Scelzi was just a little bit quicker than me at the line. The good news though was with where we qualified and getting to the second round put us up to 10th in the standings. And, with the new countdown to the championship, you’ve got to be in the top 10, so we were pretty thrilled with that position.

On Mondays after races, my team usually breaks down our pit area and heads out to the next event. Yesterday, my guys were breaking down the hospitality trailer in Topeka when a storm cell came in. There were high winds and rain and needless to say, the pictures they sent to me were crazy. All the poles bent and broke and the awning ripped off the trailer. Of course it couldn’t happen when we weren’t going right into another hospitality race, but we’ll make due and be ready for guests this weekend.

While those were the events from this past weekend, the team has been working non-stop since before the Bristol race. Between Bristol and Topeka, the guys spent a week in Indianapolis working on our new three-rail car. We were hoping to test the car on Monday after Topeka, but since NHRA has stopped testing because of the nitro shortage, we’re not going to be able to test our car.

With back-to-back races on the schedule, I’m heading to Chicago tomorrow. I’m starting the day out talking with Scott Slocum on WJOL in Chicago to preview the race, and then I’m going to my son Austin’s school for a “Bring your Dad to School” day for a little pre-Father’s Day party. I’m really glad that I’m home to be able to go to school. After that, I’m headed off to the airport.

In Chicago, we’ve got a lot of stuff going on. We’ve got Quick Lane training on Friday, Motorcraft incentive winners on Saturday, and on Sunday, I’m REALLY excited because it will be our first time hosting JDRF [Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation] kids at the track. A group of 10 and their families are going to have a day at the races with our team. They’ll hang out in the hospitality tent and we’ll do a Q&A session with them, we’re going to visit our midway display, and then they’ll be able to sit in the stands and hopefully watch us win! It’s neat, because for every race that we have kids at the track, my sponsors are going to make a donation to the JDRF national chapter for each round that I compete in on Sunday. So not only do I need to win for my team and sponsors, I’ve got to win for the kids.

I think that about covers the latest and greatest from our team. We’re really excited about Chicago because we’ve got some momentum on our side heading there. Here’s hoping that we grab a Wally in Chicago!