Michigan was a joke. That was embarrassing as all get out. Because I only have one car, I was not allowed to practice at all. No practice. I think I had four laps total on the track, maybe five… a total of five laps on the track before qualifying. I got lapped on lap 18 and it was probably the most embarrassing race I’ve ever run. So I’m glad that’s in the past.
Bristol has been good to me my whole career. I think the last two or three years, I haven’t finished worse than about 15th. This time, it was a bummer. We were running good and the alternator wire came unplugged somehow, and it quit charging the battery and the motor was starting to miss really bad. We went down four laps trying to fix that and that was the end of that. I told my guys, I said, “Guys, we’ve got to stop the bleeding.” We almost had a 200-point advantage over 30th in owner points, which is a lock in. Now we’re sitting at about 111 ahead. We’ve got to make sure we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot.
I love going to Montreal. I love the people. They’re fun people and they come to the racetrack like they’re going on a thrill ride. They bring everything and they’re ready to roll. What’s exciting about these fans up there is it’s difficult to get to the racetrack. They’ve got to get on subways and everything else, it’s not like you just drive to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, so I really appreciate the effort that they put in just to get to the racetrack.
I’m hearing that the weather is going to be good. I told my guys to get the car ready to run in the rain because NASCAR has shown us that they’re going to race in the rain no matter what. But I was on Twitter and saw that my good friend Max Papis said it’s going to be beautiful weather up there, no rain. To finally race Montreal when it’s dry… I’ve never raced up there on the dry pavement yet so it’s going to be interesting.
I’m the spokesperson for a new product called the Liberator Fuel Saver. The company is first class. We launched it in Bristol, Tenn. on State Street and then I spent all day at the CNN studios in Atlanta on Wednesday. We were live on CNN in front of 80-100 million people! I was a little bit nervous. I’m used to being in front of three million people on Race Day, but then you go on CNN and I was nervous.
They were so good to me. We got two segments. We talked about the Liberator Fuel Saver and we talked about the state of NASCAR. I’m really proud of this product because it really works or else I wouldn’t be associated with it. Check it out! It‘s a product that goes right behind the throttle base and saves about four miles a gallon on the highway. It’s a pretty neat deal.
I got to meet Robin Mead. She’s my favorite. I wake up every morning to CNN Headline News. I got to meet Robin and that was really cool.
Next week I’m going to race my dirt car Tuesday at Marshalltown, Iowa and Wednesday at Oskaloosa, then on Thursday at Allison, Iowa. The reason I can do that is because Atlanta is a one-day show. We don’t get on the racetrack until Saturday morning.
I’ve been spending some time at home with the girls. It’s an exciting time right now. I’ve got one going back to college; Brittany is going into her second year at Johnson & Wales for fashion merchandising. I’ve got one coming out of college, too. Brooke is graduating from dental hygiene school in September and I’m really proud of her. Brandy has a great career as a cosmetologist. Everything is going really good! We’re trying to get ready for next year. The end is near for this year already.
About the author
Amy is an 20-year veteran NASCAR writer and a six-time National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) writing award winner, including first place awards for both columns and race coverage. As well as serving as Photo Editor, Amy writes The Big 6 (Mondays) after every NASCAR Cup Series race. She can also be found working on her bi-weekly columns Holding A Pretty Wheel (Tuesdays) and Only Yesterday (Wednesdays). A New Hampshire native whose heart is in North Carolina, Amy’s work credits have extended everywhere from driver Kenny Wallace’s website to Athlon Sports. She can also be heard weekly as a panelist on the Hard Left Turn podcast that can be found on AccessWDUN.com's Around the Track page.
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