This week we were in Chicago, Illinois for our next race.  It was a “Juicy Fruit” race and we started off the week by going to a baseball game at Wrigley Field.  All of the early crew went and we even pushed a car to the outfield for pregame ceremonies.  Once we pushed the car back outside of the stadium we got to go in and watch the game.  It was a very fun time and a good change of pace.  Then it was off to the track the next day to prepare for the first Saturday night race at Chicago.

Practice was about like normal, just trying lots of different set-ups and went OK.  We were getting prepared for qualifying and most of the cars were on the line, then all of a sudden the NASCAR officials ordered us to push the cars back to the garage and evacuate the race track because an absolutely terrible storm was approaching.  It had been a long time since I had seen such “mean” looking clouds in the sky.  We made it out in the nick-of-time and were to start by points because of the rain.

Chicago is a very high speed track, so the handling is very critical.  Much of the first part of the race was spent trying to find a good balance to the car.  Even though the care was OK in the bottom grove, we needed to tighten up the entry to be able to run the top groove, which seemed to be better.  Guys who could run up there could gain positions rather easily, but it was difficult to get up there.  You don’t want to try to control a slide at 195mph! 

We spent most of the race running in between 20th and 28th position.  Juan did a really good job hustling the car during a round of green-flag stops to stay on the lead lap all day.  The crew did a really good job in the pits and was steady all night.  We just needed a solid race after the last few weeks.  Towards the end of the race Brian saw an opportunity to pit and make a tiny adjustment and put on new tires to make ours five laps fresher than the others in front of us.  When the green flag dropped with around 20 laps to go Juan tore through the field and gained around seven positions before a caution flew and set us up for a green, white, and checkered finish.  Juan got by the 31 car on the final lap of the race and we finished in 18th position.  I was pleased with the outcome.  A lead lap finish and advancing positions until the end was good.  Traffic is so hard to race in and makes passing very difficult because of the aerodynamic disadvantage you have being behind someone…not to mention being behind 20 cars.  It makes the driving very difficult.  Qualifying is more important now than ever.  We need to earn better starting positions and are working on improving that. 

We are going into a week off and it is VERY welcome.  In two weeks we will be at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for one of the biggest races of the year.  Have a great week and I will talk to you after Indy!

-Tab