Daytona 500 and the end.

We finished 23rd in our qualifying race and 31st in the Daytona 500 after a crash. I collapsed at the track Thursday and spent 3 days in ICU. I did get to watch the race from the pits, but didn't get to work the race. Then found out Tuesday that due to my unknown health situation the team has decided it would be best that I not continue to do my job, so I will be released at the end of the week.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me and wished me well with my career. I hope this isn't the end, but if it is, I'm thankful for all of you who believed in me.

Bud Shootout/Qualifying

The past weekend opened the action for the NASCAR season, with a non points, cash only race, and Qualifying for the Daytona 500. The track opened on Thursday Feb. 4, for practice for the Budweiser Shootout cars, there were 24 eligible drivers for the race who participated in the event. Our driver was not eligible, but one of our team cars ran the race with John Andretti behind the wheel.

The race was slated for 75 laps, 25 laps to start, a ten minute break to service the car, and then a 50 lap shootout. The race was flagged 5 times for cautions, Lap 25 for a Michael Waltrip spin, lap 33 when Mark Martin wrecked, lap 41 for a spin by Jeff Burton, lap 71 for a three car accident, and one on lap 76 after an 8 car pileup in turn three which caused the race to end under caution. 5 drivers swapped the lead 12 times with Kevin Harvick taking the checkers after a wild battle for the lead spot.

Friday the garage was open to all crews with plans on running the Daytona 500. 2 Practices were scheduled, the first of which were used for mock qualifying runs of 2 laps. After 48 of the 54 cars made their runs the rains came and washed out the rest of the days activities. Saturday brought on qualifying, the results of which set the first 2 spots for the Daytona 500, the rest of the spots will be determined by the Gatorade Dual 150 qualifying races on Thursday.

Our Recap:
Our 2 lap run for practice showed us we had some work to do to get our car to handle for Robert Richardson. After some changes on Friday, we sent Robert out to qualify for the 500. We managed to pick up 1.1 seconds from practice, which is a lot of time for a race car, but we only managed 44th our of 54 cars. That has us starting 23rd for the first Gatorade Dual race, our teammates of John Andretti and Travis Kvapil are also in the first race. Andretti will start from the 21st spot, and Kvapil will start 24th. We hope to work together, learn as much as we can, and stay out of trouble, as we will be using this as more of a test session for the 500 rather than trying to improve our starting spots.

For the Bud Shootout, since we didn't have a car in the field, I was able to work with our teammates crew in the 34 pit to try to get a jump start on knowing what I need to do come Thursday's qualifying race. Andretti ran a clean, uneventful race, until 5 laps to go when Ryan Newman made contact with Michael Waltrip sending him spinning up the track right in front of Andretti. The contact with Waltrip rendered Andretti's car incapable of finishing the race and relegating him to a 22nd place finish.

Preview:
The upcoming weekend will be the Daytona 500. The Gatorade Duals will run on Thursday at 2pm on Speed channel. Then the Daytona 500 will be on Sunday, Feb. 14th at 1pm on Fox.

Introduction and Speedweeks

For those of you who don't know me let me take a few minutes to introduce myself. In 1980 I was born in South Williamson, Ky, since then I lived in Delbarton, W.V. Hardy, Ky. Crum, W.V. and I currently reside in Mooresville, N.C. My father is a minister and former coal miner, and my mother is a beautician and the only barber I have had since I was 12. I have one sibling, my sister, Angie who is 4 years my elder. My education came from Mingo Christian School, Varney Elementary, Tolsia High School (98 graduate), and the NASCAR Technical Institute.

From an early age I have had a fascination with working on things, I took my tricycle apart at age 3, more toys than I can count throughout my childhood, and about anything else I could fit a screwdriver or wrench into. Unfortunately through my early years I had a problem getting those things back together and working correctly. Once I started learning how things worked and went back together my mechanical skills began to be more of an asset. I never really looked at mechanics as being a profession until my love of motorsports became a passion. Since the early 90's all I ever wanted to do was work on race cars, and NASCAR was the place I wanted to make a living. Its been a long 12 years since I graduated high school, but now those dreams have become a reality.

As of January 27, I am officially an employee of a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car team. I will be a shop mechanic and travel with the team as a Tire Specialist. The car will be driven by David Gilliland, except for three races where he is otherwise under contract to another team. The car will be a Ford Fusion, number 38, and Sponsored by Taco Bell. Thanks to having points from last season we are locked into the first five races of the year.

I have started this blog to allow my family and friends to be able to keep track of my career and race team's performance. Over the upcoming racing season I will be recapping the previous race, story lines, our race results, and previewing the next race on our schedule.

The First race on the cup schedule will be the Budweiser Shootout, at the Daytona International Speedway, Daytona, Fl. The track is a 2.5 mile oval, with 31 degree of banking in the turns. The shootout will take place on Feb. 6 at 8:00 EST. and can be viewed on Fox. This is a non points race with a limited field. Our team nor our driver are eligible for this event, so we will only be there as spectators.

My first race in the pits of a NASCAR cup series race will be the Great American Race, The Daytona 500 . Qualifying for this race will take place on Feb. 6, the results of which will lock the 2 drivers on the front row into the Daytona 500. The rest of the qualifying spots will determine the starting grids for the Dual at Daytona qualifying races which will take place on Feb. 11 at 2:00 EST. The odd numbered qualifying positions will set the field for the first 150 mile event, and the even numbered qualifying positions will set the field for the second dual race. The dual races will set the field for the Daytona 500, and will determine who will be in the race or who will go home.

For the 500 we will have driver Robert Richardson Jr. behind the wheel with Mahindra USA Tractors as the sponsor. Richardson making only his second start in the Sprint Cup Series made his first start at the Talladega Superspeedway, which is similar in size and race intensity, with a finish of 18th.