Pre-California

Howdy... Bubba here! Race number one is finally behind us. After qualifying on the pole, Colin ran to a ninth-place finish. Daytona week for me is always one of the hardest. Getting used to new people in new roles for the trucks always seems to throw a wrench in your plans. Overall the week went very good. Some of the things you would have seen me doing at Daytona would be keeping the cooler full, tidying up the trailer, helping the guys work on the race truck, among other things. I wound up cooking five meals while we were down there, and had zero complaints! Yay!

Since I also go over the wall, the new pit rules were a little confusing... a little hard to follow, but all in all made my job easier. Now when I fuel the truck, it’s gas only... no tire changers... no other jobs being performed. After a short weekend at home with Julie and Zach, Monday it was off to California. We had a quick turnaround this week, but thanks to the help from my crew guys, everything was swapped out and ready to go to California. I really appreciate their help, especially on the days when I am trying to get my 34-hour reset done. For all the non-truck-driving people, this means I am resetting my working hours for the week, by taking 34 hours off. California should be a good race for us. It's a two-mile oval, and last year we finished in the top 10.

Right now, I am lying in my bunk and I believe we just crossed the Arizona state line. Thanks to my lovely wife, I am able to call in this blog, while she types it. And thanks to my co-driver, I can get some rest after a long day driving through Texas. We should get into California around 5am east coast time, so I better get some rest. Tomorrow will be a long day of cleaning the truck and grocery shopping. I still haven't decided what this week's menu is gonna be... maybe it will come to me in my dreams.

Stay safe...
Bubba

Pre-Daytona

Hello everybody... Bubba here with my pre-Daytona blog. The 2009 season starts next week and we've been spending the last two months just getting ready for this year. You'd be really surprised how much time and work go into a truck that you only race twice a year. The Daytona/Talladega truck is different from any other truck that we run. It is specially built for superspeedway tracks. We will be running chassis #23, the same truck we raced at Talladega last October.

I've spent the last two months prepping all of our equipment for the season. We've painted all the tool boxes and pit boxes, and just last week, I decaled all of them. We typically paint everything in the off-season every year because we like to start Daytona with fresh, new equipment. I've also spent a lot of time re-stocking the trailer, and getting it ready to go this year. It’s my job to get with all of the shop mechanics to see what parts and pieces of the truck have changed from 2008 to 2009. I've also had to deal with some crew changes, which is pretty typical in this business. Firesuits and uniforms have shown up for all of the guys about two weeks ago, so they all needed to be handed out. On top of all of that, we've had to go through all of our tractor and trailer paperwork to make sure all our permits and such are up to date for the year. We are also trying to get as much California race stuff ready because we only have a two-day turnaround before leaving for the west coast. Doing a coast-to-coast trip takes a lot of planning to keep your logs straight. Thankfully this year, I have a full-time co-driver, whose name is Mike Goins. This is a first for me. This is just one step that Roush Fenway is taking to keep all of its truck drivers 100 percent compliant.

I've been lucky enough to win at Daytona in 2006, and it’s one race I will never forget winning. Colin should have a really good chance at winning the Daytona race this year. It seems like just yesterday we were coming back from Homestead, and now Daytona is already knocking on our backdoor. I hope to see all of you from Victory Lane soon.

Stay safe...
Bubba