Race #6 at New Smyrna Speedway
11-04-06 - VIDEO

Well, I had another good night at the track! With each race I'm getting more and more comfortable with the car and starting to be able to feel what the car is doing and what it won't do.

I've been working really hard on my driving line and how to adjust the brake bias inside the car while I'm racing. I thought that I was driving the car into the corners too hard and that's why I have been having a hard time keeping the car down on the line in the center of the corners but now I don't think that's my problem.

Last night I really got the feel for what I was doing and, after I talked to the drivers who had been running around me, they all said that the car appeared to be too tight entering and through the center of the turns. I think we are pretty close on the set up but, if we can get the car to turn in a little better, I think I could really get my lap times down a lot.

Even thought it is the end of the season there were a lot of cars at the track last night. 18 late models! I was supposed to start the race in 4th but then the car that was supposed to start in front of me decided that he wanted to drop to the rear so that put me on the outside poll. The car that drew the poll was on old tires and seemed kind off slow in practice so I decided that I was going to lay back a little on the start and try to get a run on him so I could beat him into the first turn. Everything worked just as I thought it would except that the car that started the race in 3rd got under the poll sitter and once I cleared him I was still on the outside of the 3rd place car going through the turn.

There was no grip up top and my car slide up as I made the 2nd turn and that allowed everybody behind me to get lined up on my inside. We ran about 2 laps with me on the outside while car after car got by me. There were a few times where I had a big enough opening to drop down in line but I was afraid that I would get hit and spun so I waited until I had a large enough opening to safely get down in line.

On lap 3 I got my chance to get in line on the bottom and then I settled in and tried to make up a few positions. My car felt good and I think I was as fast as the cars in front of me. There were 4 in a row and the car at the front of that pack was trying to wreck. That bunched us up for a while but then he seemed to get the car back under him and things just settled down as we ran through the rest of the race.

At about half way I broke a support on the right side of my front valance and that allowed the valance to fold under allowing air to get up under the nose of my car. From that point on the car began to push up in the corner as I watched the cars in front of me pull away.

There was one restart and I didn't give anything up this time so that was an improvement too. All in all, even though I finished in 10th, it was probably my best race so far because of what I've learned and how comfortable I am becoming in the car.

What is kind of interesting is how we go through the improvements we make. At first I have to learn some things and then I reach a point where I need the car to get better. Then my crew gets the car better and then I have to learn how to drive the car at that level. It's sort of like a sea-saw. So, for next week my "car chief" is going to be looking for some things he can do to get the car to turn into the corner better. If he does, maybe the next thing I'll have to learn is how to win!