~Darlington journal~

Hey Fans! First off, sorry for the delay in getting to the journal this week. After spending the weekend in Darlington, then Monday and Tuesday in Texas testing the Winston Cup car and now we're off to Bristol - all in all you could say my plate has been pretty full this week. But y'all understand don't you? I definitely want to talk about the race in Darlington this past weekend but first I have to tell everyone about testing at Texas. It doesn't seem that long ago that we were announcing to everyone in Miami that I was going to attempt to qualify for my first Winston Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway. I mean at the time it seemed like it was a really long way away, but I guess with my busy schedule that time has flown by and now it is unbelievable to me that it just a little over a week away. It was great to get some seat time in a Winston Cup car down at Texas. Hopefully it will be a little easier for me when I go out for practice and qualifying knowing that I have some experience getting around the track in a Cup car. I've raced a Busch Car there which has similar aerodynamics as a Cup car and I've raced a Truck there which has more horsepower like a Cup car but combining both of those into one package is kind of a different deal and it helped to get a feel for the car and how it handles around the track. I love the racetrack at Texas, always have from the first time I raced there. So to say the least I'm pretty excited about trying to run my first Winston Cup race there. The car handled well while we were testing and it was a little windy through turns one and two but then again you have to be ready for anything weather wise so it was good practice for us. But for right now I'm trying not to look too far down the road because we still have a race this weekend at Bristol that we need to focus on. But I'm really excited about the opportunity coming up in Texas, but I guess y'all can tell (especially since I keep rambling on about it). Back to Darlington though, another track that I love to race on. It is as tough as they make it out to be, that's for sure. We really improved during our practice sessions last week but we didn't pick up speed during qualifying like the majority of the other teams did so we started near the back of the field. My philosophy for race day was to drive smart, race the track and stay focused. I even taped the words to my steering wheel so that I would see them every lap that I took around the track. I feel like we could have had a top 10 car but 16th is also a good finish and we are showing consistency and that is one of the goals for this year so overall it was a pretty good weekend at Darlington. This week we're off to Bristol. Most of the guys on my team say this is there favorite track on our schedule and hopefully they'll have another reason to like it after this weekend. Bristol is loud and really competitive since it is so short but it is a lot of fun to race on and the fans absolutely love to watch racing there so that makes it a lot of fun for us to put on a show for them. I hope that everyone has a great weekend and as always thanks for all of your support. I couldn't do it without y'all. I'll talk to you before we race at Texas. God Bless, Adam