Now where was I…Sorry I have been away for a couple weeks but we have really been working on getting our UPS Toyotas better.
I had gotten to the Martinsville race before I had to stop last time, so I will try to fill you in briefly on our days the past several weeks. Martinsville started off kind of rough when our car started overheating on the first couple laps of practice. The overflow was shooting steam like Old Faithful and I could not for the life of me figure out why. It took a little while but we found out what it was. Whenever you transport these cars you usually put a piece of cardboard over the radiator to keep the fins from bending in case anything hits it during the trip. Well, the cardboard was not removed before we got out on the track and ended up costing us some track time as we tried to locate the problem. Our car was actually pretty decent, and although we were a lap down early, we felt we could come back from that. My shifter broke around lap 300 which kind of hurt, but we still had managed to work our way to being the first car a lap down. We were running pretty good until I got an awful vibration. And then my wheel popped off. We ended up getting back out on the track after that, but that ended any chance of getting back on the lead lap and having a good finish.
We just could never get the handling down at Texas. We had to start at the rear of the field because of a transmission failure. We were then a lap down early and could never really catch back up. I did get the chance to make my debut as an analyst for ESPN this weekend during the Busch race. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to my work with ESPN. It was good to be in the booth with Andy Petree. Andy, Jimmy Newsome, and myself built the first race cars I raced back in Hickory, NC. It was great to talk with Andy and come back full circle to work with him as well.
We had a tight handling racecar all night at Phoenix. We could never get it to the point where I could be aggressive enough without taking out the car itself or someone else. This was my second week in the broadcast booth for ESPN and I finally got to work with my good friend, Dr. Jerry Punch. Jerry is another fellow from my hometown of Newton, NC, and it was so much fun to work with he and Andy. Jerry just excels at every thing he does, be it broadcasting a college football game or a NASCAR race. He is truly a gentleman and just a great all around guy.
Our next race was Talladega and it was basically over as soon as it began. I felt something was wrong with the motor on the first lap and I proceeded to lose the draft and go a lap down. After coming in for a green flag pit stop, the engine let go coming back up to speed and the day was over.
After this race the writing was on the wall where our whole organization need to look at ourselves and start making some changes. We needed to move some people around and see if we could get a spark or some chemistry going on all of our teams. We decided to bring Jason Burdette in from the 88 team to be my crew chief and move Matt to Technical Director over all the teams. Matt later declined and decided to move on. Matt is a very bright guy and we hated to lose him. Anyway, I am very much looking forward to working with Jason. He has been with me off and on for a very long time, and he brings a lot to our organization. I believe he has worked in every capacity in the race shop, so we look forward to his experience and enthusiasm.
Unfortunately, we were out of past champion provisionals and missed the Richmond and Darlington races. When you have done something that you love and not missed a day of it for 13 years, it is extremely disappointing and just a tough deal to work through. I feel bad for UPS and their employees, all of our other sponsors, as well as all of our fans that have supported us through thick and thin. But the only thing to do is not feel sorry for ourselves, and get back in there get back to work.
Race weeks in Charlotte are always fun because you are basically at your home track and get to see more of your family than normal race weekends. With my kids playing various sports on the weekends, they don’t get to the track as often as they used to. But Charlotte makes that a little bit easier. The All-Star race was fun, as my car was handling pretty well. I could get through the corners really well, but we were getting pulled down the straightaway by the other cars. Toyota has been working really hard on their engines and would unveil a new combination for the Coca-Cola 600 the following week. But here, we could not carry as much speed out of the corners and down the straightaway to keep up as well with the other cars.
We qualified on time for the Coca-Cola 600 race and I could really feel the change in the motors. I then had another bonus to the weekend when my dad joined me in the broadcast booth for part of the Busch race. Talk about fun. That was definitely an early father’s day present for myself. I had such a great time. The 600 the next day started out pretty good. We were running pretty good and got through the first two big wrecks almost unscathed. The 7 slid down the track and tapped us on the right door but there was not much damage. We were really looking forward to getting to the night time. The car was handling pretty good and the engine was the best of the year. But coming out of the caution on lap 82 we had a problem with the transmission again and it ended a promising night. That is the brutal part of this sport. You can be riding a wave of success with everything going your way, and suddenly you can be relegated to the garage for the rest of the night.
But with all of that, we have learned some things and with the engines continuing to improve, I am confident that we are heading on the right path. I look forward to steering this UPS Toyota back toward the front of the field where we belong. Thanks to all of the fans for your continued support. I will be in touch.
I also want to take this time to thank all of the men and women and their families in the military who have sacrificed and continue to sacrifice so the rest of us can do what we do hear at home. We all need to keep them in our prayers and pray for their safe return.
DJ
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