Catching Up on the Last Two Weeks

Hey ya'll...Bubba here. Let’s catch up on the last two weeks, which were Texas and Phoenix. First Texas ― we went to Texas this time with higher expectations, thanks to the fact that Colin has been there a few times. I also thought it would be really nice to win in his home state. It was an unusually uneventful race and we managed to drive chassis No. 43 from a 19th starting position to a fifth-place finish. The truck just kept getting better throughout the race, and Colin also managed to keep himself out of trouble. After a 16-hour trip, we were back in Charlotte. One of the biggest issues for these two races is being sure to get your 34-hour reset time in before leaving for Phoenix. Knowing I would have to leave Monday night, I put a lot of faith in my crew to get many of the weekly things turned around on the truck. Once again, they did a great job, which makes my job easier, and also gets me out on time. On the way to Phoenix, we had the displeasure of driving through the remnants of tropical storm Ida. Other than a lot of rain, and a little wind, it wasn't too bad.

Phoenix is a track where I've never really had a good finish. I thought for sure this was the year to change that. After an okay qualifying, Colin steadily picked up spots, and found himself racing in the top six for much of the night. I just knew we would run well enough to hold onto our top-five position in driver points. Then, out of nowhere, the truck lost power, and Colin limped onto pit road. Something in the engine had broken and there was no way to fix the problem. The dreams of top five were definitely slipping through our fingers. We finished 28th, and dropped two spots in the points. After looking at the numbers, we are only 25 points out of fifth place. This is definitely not impossible. A lot of things will have to go in our favor, and Colin will have to drive the race of his life, but I think we can do it. It all comes down to our last race at Homestead.

We have come so far in the points that it really hurts to drop these positions now with only one race left. We have some of the best engines in the business, but you just can't control a random part failure. Everybody has this happen, but for us, it couldn't have come at a worse time.

Next week, I'll wrap up the season, and start working towards a new year with new goals. Until then.

Stay safe...
Bubba

Reflecting on Talladega

Hey ya'll... Bubba here trying to keep you updated from the past week. We were in Talladega for last week's race and we had very high hopes for a promising weekend. After sitting on the pole in Daytona, we knew that we hoped we would have the truck to beat in Talladega also. The weekend started just as we had expected with Colin capturing his fourth pole of the year. And then the rains came...again. It seems like I've seen more rain this year than any other year before. Luckily Mother Nature worked with us, and we got the race started about 30 minutes late on Saturday. You never know what a superspeedway race holds in store for you so I was nervously optimistic. We led a lot of the race and then we got spun mid-way. After a little damage repair, we were right back in the hunt for the win. The big one came with four laps to go and we narrowly missed it. I thought for sure we were in a good spot to have a great finish. On the last lap we were shuffled out of the draft, and came home to a 12th-place finish. I remember years when I would have loved a 12th-place finish, but this year it kinda burns. The one positive to come out of this weekend was that we did move up into fifth place in driver points. Now it’s just a matter of holding onto that spot or moving further forward.

After a short week in the shop, we'll be going to Texas for a Friday night race. This will be Colin's fourth time at Texas and I expect he will run better there than he has in the past. He has really been doing a good job of learning and remembering the tracks we've already been to. I, on the other hand, am looking forward to seeing some of my family, because this is the closest race to their home in Oklahoma City. It’s very important that we finish these last three races on a strong note to help carry us into next season. Although the season is winding down, our point battle is just heating up. Thanks to all the Con-way Freight employees for all their support in the past couple of years. It’s much easier to be successful when you have a strong backing like Con-way Freight and their people. Thanks again.

Stay safe...
Bubba