| |
 Short track primers Winning, losing and learning at Bristol, Martinsville
Posted: Saturday April 24, 1999 03:20 PM
Back from a much-needed weekend off with family and friends. Finally, we move to the first two short track races of the year and despite Bristol and Martinsville's tough reputations, I thought my past history on bullrings would bode well for me and the Joe Gibb's Home Depot team. Our test last month really paid off for Bristol because rain limited our practice time before qualifying. We were the third car out in qualifying and although we had run laps during testing below the track qualifying record, Rusty Wallace's time of 15.333 seconds was going to be hard to beat. We clicked off a solid 15.439 (seconds at 124.283 mph) lap, good enough for fourth overall and a second-row starting position next to Bobby (Labonte). It's a relief to make first-round qualifying, so we can move on to our race set-up. The car was a little tight at first during the race, but then the track started to come to us as the tires heated up. We were strong on long green runs, and with the crew's awesome pit stops, we were able to maintain a front-running position throughout the day. We moved into third on lap 66 and were able to take the lead from Rusty 132 laps later. What a rush to lead at Bristol with fans as high as the eye can see, and it didn't hurt collecting the $10,000 Gatorade Bonus at halfway either. Unfortunately, a caution came out a lap later and we dropped back to second. Less than a 100 laps later, we got caught in a accident in Turn 2, and our day went down from there. Although the team was able to make quick repairs and get me out in 13th place, I had a tire go down a few laps later and lost three laps after having to pit under green. Somehow I was able to stay on the bottom and weave through the traffic. I had worked my way up to 11th despite finally being taken out by the guy who caused all the yellows, but that's Bristol and that's short track racing. To finish 15th and come out of here with our front and rear clip all right on the car, we really can't complain. We had a good day. Learned a lot by running up front with the guys that lead every week and moved up to 12th in points!
Another week, another bullringMartinsville was a completely different animal. After testing there for the first time, I wanted to come down sick and stay in bed all weekend. I felt like Martinsville was going to be a living nightmare. Consequently, no one was more surprised than me to be the second-to-the-last car to go out on Friday and not only bump a solid veteran like Mark Martin of the pole, but to set a new track record (19.875 seconds at 92.275 mph).
More hooplah and more media attention to deal with for this rookie. It's still hard to believe that I earned a pole in only my eighth Winston Cup race. I got to give a lot of credit to the team and Joe Gibbs Racing for giving me not only the opportunity, but the proper equipment to accomplish a task like this so early in our program. I only hope that our race effort could have been equally satisfying. I was being very cautious at the start of the race, probably too cautious because I wasn't sure if we had a serious problem with the caliper and I didn't want to wreck our car. I dropped back a little farther than I wanted to, but once I knew all was well, I got settled into rhythm and prepared to be patient and take passes as I could. As the brakes warmed up, we were able to bring the car back in the top 15. I've got to give the guys credit. They did a good job of making the car better. We weren't very good in practice Saturday, but they kept trying to tune the car and make it better. We didn't have a great car, but we didn't have a terrible car either. We just got caught in a couple of accidents that set us back and we were never able to regain our position. I was probably too careful and let people get too big of a run on me, but those are the lessons I have to learn, having never raced at Martinsville before. Starting on the pole probably wasn't the most advantageous thing. We survived and now we'll go on to Talladega, but -- not before I go to school to learn how to heal, toe, turn to the right and curb-hop. Sounds like I'm taking dancing lessons. Wrong. I'm going to Arizona to road-racing school in preparation for the upcoming road course events. Been a while since I raced a go-kart around a road course. I know this will be very beneficial to the team if I can learn more from the school. I have turned right in a race car before. In open-wheel cars, you turn right to go left on dirt. They call it 'backin' the car in.' If I try that with the Winston Cup car, it won't be pretty. Better learn how to do it the right way. See you soon.
| |||||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 1999 CNN/SI. A Time Warner Company. Terms under which this service is provided to you.
| |||||||||||||||||||
