~Las Vegas Journal~
Adam's Journal 3/11/99
First and foremost, I want to apologize to
all my fans for not keeping up with this
journal. The last time I wrote anything
was in Daytona. I know you'all like to
know what I'm up to, what I'm thinking,
how the season's goin' and stuff like that.
You know how important you'all are to
me and I promise that from here on out I
will try my best to write in my journal at
least once a week. Just keep in mind
that I'm not much of a writer. I mean, I
would much rather sit down and talk to
everyone instead of write. Seeing how
that wouldn't be possible, I'm going to do
my best to talk to you'all through this
fangled computer. I say that because I've
never even 'surfed' the web once before
this year. It amazes me to realize that
now I have my own web site. Now that I'm starting to get the hang of
my new computer and surfing the net, I think it is really cool.
Judging from what I have read on my discussion page, it seems like
you'all really like my site a lot. I'm glad to hear it. You have no idea
how much your words of support and encouragement mean to me. If
you have any ideas on how we can improve the site, or some other
stuff you would like to know about, please let me know.
So let's see, the last time I wrote in this journal was in Daytona.
Man, I was fired up after that race. Sure I wanted to win the race, but
all things considered I was really happy with 6th place. We were
really on a roll heading into Rockingham. I couldn't wait to get back
into that race car again so that I could prove that my top 10 finish in
Daytona was no fluke. Unfortunately, I knew we were in trouble as
soon as I saw the rain clouds start to roll in. When the rain came, I
knew our chances of making the race were questionable at best.
Finding out that we did not make the race was bad. Finding out we
missed the race by one lousy spot was even worse. It felt like salt in
the wound to be honest. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't
extremely upset. So much so that I didn't want to talk to anyone for a
while. The hardest part though was being forced to watch the race
from the infield. Man, I wanted to be in that race bad!! I decided to
give myself the rest of the weekend to be upset about the whole
thing. Come Monday though, I made up my mind to put the whole
thing behind me and focus on my test in Atlanta and the upcoming
race in Vegas. If there was any good that came out of my experience
in Rockingham, its that I know that I never want to 'watch' another
Busch Series race again this year!
Which brings me to another point. You know, there's been a lot of
talk about how many Cup drivers are coming down to race in the
Busch Series. So many in fact that a lot of Busch guys are being
sent home early; myself included in Rockingham. Personally, I like
racing against the Cup guys. The reason why is because I learn a lot
more racin' behind Mark Martin than I do racin' behind say Ed Berrier.
The bottom line is that I want to do anything and everything I can
possibly do to become a great race car driver. Racing against great
drivers like Mark Martin will only make me a better driver. That's not
to say that I am intimidated by the Cup drivers; I'll go fender to fender
with any one of those guys any day of the year. Still don't get me
wrong, I feel bad for the guys that go home early as a result of Cup
drivers competing in Busch-heck I was one of them, but that's the
nature of this highly competitive business called NASCAR. Anyway,
that's my opinion on the subject.
As for the race in Vegas, at first I was really upset with our 29th
finish. But after I sat back and took a good, hard look at it, I realized
that we made a ton of progress through the whole race. I mean, we
took a bad race car and turned it into a good race car by the end of
the race. So while I was very disappointed in our finish, I was really
excited with our communication. Being able to communicate what's
going on with the race car to Lance is so critical because only then
can he make the adjustments needed to make the car run better.
Our 29th place finish aside, Vegas was a great race for us because
Lance and I learned how to communicate much more effectively with
each other during a race. Thanks to the great communication skills
that we acquired Vegas, I think we are extremely close to our first
win of the season.
Will that win come at Atlanta? I don't know. We tested great here two
weeks ago-almost broke the track record, but for some reason the
best we could do in qualifying was 20th. Not that I'm complaining;
just to make the Busch field these days is an accomplishment in
itself. Still, you gotta know that I love these fast race tracks. The
faster the better as far as I'm concerned. After running 7th quick in
our final practice, I'm confident that, if we can stay out of trouble, we'll
be running with the leaders at the end.
Tune in next week and I'll tell you all about the race. Until then, I'm
happy to finally get you guys caught up on things.
Thanks again for all your love, support and prayers; it means the
world to me!!
Adam
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