~Michigan Journal~

Hi Y’all, I hope everyone’s week is going well so far. Mine has been pretty busy as we get ready to head out to Bristol this weekend. Not quite what I was hoping for with my debut at Michigan but I definitely learned a lot and gained a lot of experience for the next time we head back there. As far as the race goes, I was proud of our qualifying run. To start 21st, especially with all of the Winston Cup Drivers who also attempted to qualify for the race, was great for our team. I’ve read a lot of your posts about whether y’all think the Cup drivers should be able to drive in the Busch Series. I know everyone has an opinion on the subject lately but no matter which side you’re on, it is a great feeling to go out there and run competitively with those guys and qualify in front of a lot of them. In any case, I didn’t have a lot of time to learn the track at Michigan because of the rain we had. I am sure that anyone who has been reading my journals since the beginning of the season remembers how I can’t stand waiting to see if we are going to race because of the weather. Well, I definitely haven’t become more patient as the season has gone on when it comes to this. I don’t like waking up to rain because then you never know what the schedule will be like that day. This was the case at Michigan. We only had an hour of practice time to get the No. 45 setup for qualifying which was delayed until the evening. So under those conditions I was happy with the starting spot we ended up with. Needless to say the race result was not what we hoping for. We really struggled with the way the car handled all day. There was a strong vibration in the car making it really hard to drive and during the race we couldn’t seem to find where it was coming from. I definitely fought the car as long as I could and my crew tried everything they knew to figure out the problem but in the end it made more sense to park the car and go home in one piece. Although we had problems, it was still a good weekend because we learned a lot about the track and which setups will work and which ones don’t. That will be real helpful when we head back there next year. In any case, the race was not the only thing going on in Michigan last weekend. I had my photo shoot with Upper Deck trading cards. Usually I am not that crazy about having my picture taken but this was pretty cool. There were about three different setups they used for me. Some of which included me in my helmet and uniform. The coolest thing about this shoot was not the actual pictures but the interview we did afterwards. Upper Deck filmed an interview of me that will be placed on a special multimedia card that you will be able to use in the CD-ROM part of your computer. When you put this card in your computer, you will be able to find out all of my stats, footage of me on the track and see the interview we filmed this past weekend. This card is awesome and Upper Deck has done a great job with its development. So if you get my trading card in a pack of Upper Deck cards, you may also receive this multimedia experience in the pack. I know y’all will like it so be sure to look for it when they come out next season. Speaking of computers, I had a great opportunity before I left for Michigan to visit North Carolina Children’s Hospital and help launch the STARBRIGHT World at this hospital. STARBRIGHT World is a computer network that allows children in the hospital to talk with other children in other hospitals who may have the same health problems. It is really cool because the kids can e-mail each other or even play video games together although they are at different hospitals many miles apart. I am really proud to say that my sponsor, Sprint, is involved with this project as a partner and donates all of the network communications these kids need so that they can stay in touch with each other. I was able to talk with the kids at the North Carolina Hospital and we had a video teleconference with another children’s hospital in Kansas City. The kids had some great questions for me at both hospitals. The North Carolina Children’s Hospital is the 45th hospital (what a coincidence! LOL) to feature STARBRIGHT World. I also want to say hello and thanks to everyone who I talked to on my walk to the car before qualifying last Thursday at Michigan. There were so many people to talk to and I got so caught up signing autographs that I was almost late for my qualifying attempt. Everyone’s support was great as always and I really appreciate it. Another thing, I am sorry that my journal has not been up sooner and I read some of your posts wondering where it was. Please be patient with me if it isn’t up at the very beginning of the week and I promise I will try harder to write earlier than I have been. Is that a deal? As always have a great rest of the week and thanks for all of the support. I am excited to see from the posts that a lot of y’all will be at Bristol. Please be sure to have a safe trip there if you are coming down. I know it is loud down there in Thunder Valley but I expect to hear everyone cheering! (LOL) God Bless, Adam