Joe Gibbs Driven

The weekend started out when I arrived at BMR on Friday afternoon. I picked our race tires up from the tire supplier and had them mounted. There were very few things to do on the racecar, as we had won the previous weekend and Ryan, Travis, Jacob, and Alex had already performed all of the regular maintenance on the car. We were all able to get a good night's rest on Friday night and arrived at the shop ready to go on Saturday morning. We checked a few final things, grouped our tires into sets, and headed to the racetrack.

One thing about our team is that we never rest on our laurels. We view wins as encouragement to work even harder, not as a reason to slow down. This made our practice sessions extremely productive, as we took a car that had won its last race and made it even better by a good amount. We ended up being the fastest car in all three practice sessions, making small improvements in each one. In qualifying, we ended up third, which we were pleased with because we knew that at least the top five would be inverted.

The third place qualifying run put us on the outside pole for the trophy dash. Our car not only works great on the bottom, it works on the top as well. This enabled me to take the lead by the end of the first lap. I stretched out a one car length lead and held that to the race's conclusion, bringing us our first win of the night.

The invert for the first main ended up being a six, so we started the race in the fourth position. There were some early cautions, but as soon as the field sorted itself out and we got into single file order, I started moving forward. By the fifth lap, we were up to second. I sat behind the leader, the #27 of John Moore, just biding my time, something I learned while racing Briggs and Stratton karts. I knew that our car was a little better than his on the short run, but much better than his on the long run. I stayed close enough to him to pressure him into a mistake but far enough to conserve my equipment. By lap 11, Moore had fallen off a good amount, so I decided to look for an opportunity to move around him. By lap 13, we had taken the lead. There were a few restarts, but we were able to retain the lead for the rest of the race, stretching out a five car length lead by the end to win the first of two fifty lap main events.

After the first main, I was asked to spin the "wheel of death," which determines how many cars will be inverted for the second race. I spun a five, so I started the second main event inside row three. Although we won the first race, I knew that there was still a little bit of "untapped speed" in our racecar, as we were slightly "loose in," meaning that the car had a slight oversteer during corner entry. I opted for a small adjustment which worked out perfectly. We won the second race in much of the same fashion as the first, but this time we won by almost a straightaway, or 2.17 seconds!

These wins are really a credit to the entire Bill McAnally Racing team, especially Ryan, Travis, Jacob, and Alex. These guys worked harder this week than they have before because they know what it takes to win. Our Ruth's Chris / Aim Sports Toyota Camry was awesome. We'll be back in action this weekend!

If you'd like to hear more about the races, I'll be on two radio shows on Tuesday. The first is the "Frank Truatt Morning Show" on WTBQ at 7:05 AM, which broadcasts in the Northern New Jersey and Southeastern New York area. The second is "The Morning Drive" with David Poole and Mike Bagley on Sirius NASCAR 128 at 10:00 AM, which is nationwide.