What’s up, guys?
I have to start this column by saying how cool it was to set the Nationwide Series track qualifying record at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this past weekend. I’ve never considered myself a good qualifier on 1.5-mile tracks and I really didn’t think we had the car to do it after practice on Friday. But my crew chief, Paul Wolfe, made some great adjustments just before I went out and the car just flew around the place. I was able to hold it wide open. What I didn’t do was breathe the entire lap. It’s a pretty exhilarating experience to go that fast around a track like Vegas. We would have liked to have gone to Victory Lane, but Kevin Harvick had a great car. Still, we finished top-five for the second consecutive week and moved to second in the point standings, only 41 behind Carl Edwards.
The California Nationwide Series race was a great race too. I really thought about trying to make the car stick on that last lap pass, but it was a wise decision not to. I could have taken out Greg Biffle and Kyle Busch, but what would that have accomplished? I probably would have torn up my car in the process and we are trying to build this new No. 22 Discount Tire team here at Penske Racing. What we needed was a good, solid finish and that is exactly what we got.
On the Cup Series side, we continue make improvements each race and that’s the most encouraging part. It would be different if we ran 26th at Las Vegas and we didn’t learn anything - that's not the case. We had a good qualifying effort, but something just wasn’t right when the green flag fell. After I pulled into the garage, we noticed that the car had suffered some right front damage, right above the splitter, during the race. That probably wasn’t the entire problem, but it sure didn’t help things.
My crew chief, Jay Guy, and I have preached all through the offseason about minimizing our bad finishes. What could have easily been a 35th-place day at Vegas was salvaged to a 26th-place finish. This No. 12 Penske Dodge Charger team doesn’t know the meaning of the word quit. As we continue to figure out what I need in these cars, that work ethic will manifest itself into quality finishes.
As I write this week’s column, I’m sitting on my plane with my good buddy Jeff Hammond. We’re flying back to North Carolina after a week-and-a-half on the West Coast. We’ve been talking about the difference between racing in the old days and today’s racing, and life in general. It has been awesome. It took this plane ride for me to find out that we are basically neighbors. The two of us were also in Phoenix last week filming a Discount Tire commercial. Keep your eyes out for it in April. It’s hilarious, but I won’t spoil the surprise.
See you in Victory Lane!
