I am always excited to get to go back to Martinsville because it is where I raced my first Craftsman Truck race.
It started out in the morning raining pretty hard and changed the schedule around a little bit. Instead of getting 2 practices and a rookie practice, we only got one practice that was 1hr and 20mins long. The truck was very tight in the turns so we adjusted it and made it better; at the end of practice the truck was still tight in the middle and loose off the turns. We ended up 14th on the speed charts, but we knew we needed to make a major adjustment to get us to where we needed to be.
We qualified the next morning and the truck was very very loose…we ended up qualifying 21st. At that point, we knew that we probably adjusted the truck too far and would have to spend the first of the race adjusting it back where it needed to be. At the start of the race the truck was still very loose. We came in on the first stop and changed 2 tires and made an adjustment. We made the truck a little better but it was still loose. The truck was still horrible at that point and we were running somewhere around 25th place. We still knew we had to make some pretty major adjustments to get it even race able. On the next caution we changed right side tires and made our final adjustment. After our final pit stop, we actually made the truck a ton better. It was still a little tight in the center of the turns, but not nearly as bad as it was. We were coming up through the field and passed a lot of trucks. We made it up to 9th with 10 laps to go and there was another caution, making the finish a green, white, checkered. Everything was good until the final turn when my teammate got spun out. He came back up in front of the field and trapped us against the outside wall. I got the truck in reverse and got around the wreck and ended up 14th. I couldn’t believe what had just happened. We were 300 feet from getting our 2nd straight top ten!!!
All in all it was a good day. We made the truck a lot better and kept the rookie points lead.
Thanks for all of your comments and well wishes!!
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
TALLADEGA!!!
We were all very excited about going to Talladega because we had new engines in both trucks, plus I had tested an ARCA car there before so it was a little more familiar than going to a track that I have never seen before.
We practiced on Thursday and the truck was really good in the draft. We had a little problem with dragging the left front of the splitter off all during practice. We missed most of the final practice because it completely fell off and the crew had to replace it. I really felt like from the practice that the truck would be fast in the draft.
We had qualifying on Friday and we drew 34th to go out. When I got in the truck and tried to start it there was a problem. NASCAR put us on the 5 minute clock and we finally figured out that the problem was in the kill switch. The crew guys had to run back to the hauler and get the steering wheel out of the backup truck and run back to pit road. They got it back to me and we got the truck fired up with 1 minute left!! Our first lap put us 20th and we were the only truck to gain position on our 2nd lap moving us to 16th.
Our plan for the race was to see how the truck handled in traffic and then just settle in somewhere and ride until around 25 laps to go. The truck was pretty loose when someone would get tight to my outside, so when we came in for our first stop the crew made some adjustments and made that a lot better. We had quite a few close calls during the race with people wrecking all around us…the closest call we had was when Sprauge blew a tire leading and spun in front of the field. We ended up going down through the grass and missing most of the wreck. The only damage we had was to the left front corner of the splitter. My spotters and my crew chief made the decision to come in and check everything out, which was a great decision because the splitter was under my left front tire and would have caused it to go down. My spotters told me that the yellow line was my best friend so we just stayed glued down to the bottom and ended up bringing home a 6th place finish!!
Thanks to everyone for visiting my Infield Parking site and leaving comments.
We practiced on Thursday and the truck was really good in the draft. We had a little problem with dragging the left front of the splitter off all during practice. We missed most of the final practice because it completely fell off and the crew had to replace it. I really felt like from the practice that the truck would be fast in the draft.
We had qualifying on Friday and we drew 34th to go out. When I got in the truck and tried to start it there was a problem. NASCAR put us on the 5 minute clock and we finally figured out that the problem was in the kill switch. The crew guys had to run back to the hauler and get the steering wheel out of the backup truck and run back to pit road. They got it back to me and we got the truck fired up with 1 minute left!! Our first lap put us 20th and we were the only truck to gain position on our 2nd lap moving us to 16th.
Our plan for the race was to see how the truck handled in traffic and then just settle in somewhere and ride until around 25 laps to go. The truck was pretty loose when someone would get tight to my outside, so when we came in for our first stop the crew made some adjustments and made that a lot better. We had quite a few close calls during the race with people wrecking all around us…the closest call we had was when Sprauge blew a tire leading and spun in front of the field. We ended up going down through the grass and missing most of the wreck. The only damage we had was to the left front corner of the splitter. My spotters and my crew chief made the decision to come in and check everything out, which was a great decision because the splitter was under my left front tire and would have caused it to go down. My spotters told me that the yellow line was my best friend so we just stayed glued down to the bottom and ended up bringing home a 6th place finish!!
Thanks to everyone for visiting my Infield Parking site and leaving comments.
Friday, September 28, 2007
VEGAS
We went to Vegas with high hopes of getting a top ten finish…but due to mechanical failure, that didn’t happen.
It was raining the morning of the race causing NASCAR to cancel Rookie practice and lump the other 2 practices together, causing us to only get one 2 hour practice. The truck was really good right off the truck and we were anywhere from 3rd to 9th fastest in practice all day. We bolted on new tires to make a mock qualifying run and the truck got really, really loose.
They worked on the truck between practice and qualifying and changed some things to try to make it tighter for our qualifying run. We went out 30th and on my second lap the truck got super loose and ended up qualifying 24th.
When we took the green flag the truck was still very, very loose. We went a lap down early because of that and we had to fight hard to get it back. We got back on the lead lap and came in and changed tires and the crew made the truck a lot better, things were finally looking up. About 50 laps into the race I felt the motor loosing power…we had lost a cylinder. Trying to earn as many points as possible we stayed out on the track and rode around hoping the motor would hold up until the end of the race. With about 30 laps to go we lost another cylinder. The motor ended up lasting until the end of the race and we were able to get a 23rd place finish out of it. Vegas didn’t end up the way that we had hoped, but our team is getting stronger every week and we are going to go into Talladega with the same high hopes.
Thanks to everyone for visiting my Infield Parking site and leaving comments. - Willie
It was raining the morning of the race causing NASCAR to cancel Rookie practice and lump the other 2 practices together, causing us to only get one 2 hour practice. The truck was really good right off the truck and we were anywhere from 3rd to 9th fastest in practice all day. We bolted on new tires to make a mock qualifying run and the truck got really, really loose.
They worked on the truck between practice and qualifying and changed some things to try to make it tighter for our qualifying run. We went out 30th and on my second lap the truck got super loose and ended up qualifying 24th.
When we took the green flag the truck was still very, very loose. We went a lap down early because of that and we had to fight hard to get it back. We got back on the lead lap and came in and changed tires and the crew made the truck a lot better, things were finally looking up. About 50 laps into the race I felt the motor loosing power…we had lost a cylinder. Trying to earn as many points as possible we stayed out on the track and rode around hoping the motor would hold up until the end of the race. With about 30 laps to go we lost another cylinder. The motor ended up lasting until the end of the race and we were able to get a 23rd place finish out of it. Vegas didn’t end up the way that we had hoped, but our team is getting stronger every week and we are going to go into Talladega with the same high hopes.
Thanks to everyone for visiting my Infield Parking site and leaving comments. - Willie
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