Daytona

Great race everyone!

An unexpected pole was great and being able to compete for the win was even better.

While starting on the pole, I had no idea who if anyone would be willing to work with me. Turns out Romar was willing to stay in line to try to help get a break away from the field. Since he wasn't trying to pass and staying in line, I tried to help him out as much as I could when people tried to pass on the inside. In past races, an attempt to pass on the inside was made easily but the high line worked great last night and we were able to fend off challenges early on.

About half way through the first fuel run I noticed there was no way to make 40 laps so I gave up the lead and dropped back to see if I could conserve fuel to make it to lap 40 but I couldn't save enough. Everyone started to make their pit stops and I stayed out as long as I could. I went in with all the leaders that were left when I was down to less than a gallon of fuel and almost ran over Chuck but made my way around him as we entered pit road. I made a two tire stop thinking everyone else would do the same and got out just behind Romar. I think everyone else must have taken four tires though because Romar and I had a huge lead over the rest of the field.

In to the second fuel run I noticed that we weren't running as fast as I knew we could because I a lousy pusher on super speedways, so I found an opportunity to pass Romar hoping he would be willing to push. Turned out that we were much faster with him pushing and we were turning some really fast lap times. Just as I started thinking about when we might have to pit again, Romar's engine blew going down the back stretch. Unfortunately nobody else was involved although it was a close call for AJ and Ronnie who were directly behind Romar. After that, I was by myself until AJ and Ronnie caught back up but our lap times weren't as fast as the group Luis was pulling and they quickly caught up and passed but I was able to catch the draft. I stayed in that group until we made the last and final pit stop.

After making my last pit stop of the evening taking two tires again, I had a decent lead over Luis and Sidney, 2nd and 3rd place but without anyone to draft with. All I could do was wait for them to catch me hoping I could get lucky and catch their draft as they went by. I got lucky when they caught me in the middle of turns 1 and 2 and they picked me up without going by. From that point, I ran in the lead running my line until it got closer to the end. At that point, Sidney and Luis started moving around a little more racing each other which was great because that helped me keep the lead to the finish.

An unexpected pole and an unexpected win. Not a bad way to start off the season.

Thank you all for coming out to race last night, it really was great to see you all.

This was a great race for me to come back to R2P. Honestly, it would have been my first win at R2P, but I am an honorable person and could not see myself dumping Tom (after all, he played a huge part in my lap times). So, I felt i owed it to him to pick him up and stay in line until at least the last lap. Luis and Chuck were behind me and I was hoping Tom and I could pull away and fight it out between ourselves. However, Luis got a good run and caught our draft. With a few laps to go, Luis was trying to communicate with me by pulling out of line and giving me a few taps, but I was determined to fight it out on the last lap (Which probably cost me the win). Thank you Luis for trying. Lesson learned and if I am in this situation again....will I be so honorable????

Great racing guys...I will be gone the next 2 races (out of Country), but will be back in time for Bristol.

Sid

I had a nice qualy, third right behind Tom and Romar was pretty nice. During the race I could keep in the principal group, following the guys. I had some problems during my first stop (When I was entering I almost hit a slow car that was there, trying to enter in the pits as well) and lost few important seconds, when I left I was a little too far from Jim, so waited for Caetano, Carnero and Munhoz that were coming really fast behind me. During the second stop, I haven't changed tyres so I could be together with the guys and the last lap was really great, 4 cars fighting for the 4th position. In the end 7th position was very nice to me....

Congrats Tom, Sid and Luis for the podium and race!

Hope to be with you guys soon!

Congrats to Tom, Sidney & Luis. Good start to the season.

My race went well, until the second pit-stop, when the brakes locked up and I nosed it into the pit-wall. To make matters worse, as I was trying to back into my stall, Chuck pulled in behind me though his stall was ahead of mine. Looks like I buggered him up too! Sorry Chuck. :(

Congratulations Tom, nice way to start the season. Nice to see a large turnout.

Poor qual (surprise) but quickly drafted up to the front and was content to stay there and ride around a wile. I was directly behind Romar when his engine expired and I ran into the back of him crunching my front. Thanks Romar for keeping it straight as we were able to get by.

When my pit stop came, I went in too hot and got caught speeding. That resulted in a drive through. Oh yea and my pit crew was kind enough to repair my grill for 30 seconds, they are so good at that stuff.

I really like this version.

I never have much luck in Superspeedway... so it was a very good result for the championship! :)

Congrats Tom!

That was some great fun!!! Looking forward to some more of these high speed tracks.
Started from the back, ran with the second pack for most of the first stint 10th to 14th, some really good drafting fun!!! Pitted and came out with R. Martin.
On lap 46 I rolled my truck twice trying to avoid another drivers mistake going into T3, wrong place at wrong time I guess.
Figured my day was over, but my awesome pit crew got me back out running. Ended up bring it home in 13th from 20th.

See you all at Phoenix