This is a hard blog to write. I’m very disappointed in our result, but we couldn’t have had a better race. Both Travis and I did everything perfect, and did what we needed to do to win the race, but the race was 3 hours long… not 2 hours and 53 minutes. If it had been we would have won, instead we have a 24th place finish.

Here is the long story for everyone interested: The start of the race went just as I hoped, I got a good jump and was the first car through turn 1. I knew I could control the pace of the race if I did that. So the plan was to try to get a car or 2 to work with me so we could brake away from the field. It worked beautifully, Bob Endicott driver of the #144 Acura RSX started in 3rd position right behind me, but was able to move into the second spot by following my lead through turn 1. He stuck with me and had the same plan in mind. We were drafting each other and not slowing each other down by fighting for positions. We had a nice gap back to 3rd place when the 1st of many cautions came out. It negated our lead, but Bob and I were able to do the same thing on the next 2 re-starts. My stint in the car was just over an hour and a half and I never lost the lead for a whole lap. While Endicott and I were drafting back and fourth he was able to draft by me a handful of times (which I allowed him cleanly by, so to not slow either one of us down), and I was able to draft right back by him on the next straight away (where he allowed me by without a fight also). It was a beautiful thing working with a competitor drafting around the high banks of Daytona International Speedway. I felt like Ricky Bobby!

So, when the 3rd caution came out it was at the perfect time and we decided to make our pit stop and driver change. I got out and we put Travis in the car to finish the race. He came out of the pits in 6th place. This was due to the fact that the top 4 positions were on a different pit strategy and had pitted earlier, the 5th place driver had just beat us out of the pits.

By the end of the first green lap Travis was able to sneak by all the cars in our class except for Ken Dobson (my good friend, and ex-teammate). So Ken, who shares the car with Bob Endicott, was not battling with Travis. Same 2 cars that were running together at the beginning of the race. Except this time there was no friendly drafting. This was for the win. Billy Johnson had moved up and joined the battle also, but had told Travis that he would hold back and let Travis have a shot at Ken.

We looked good for the win, we knew our car has the horsepower advantage on the RSX, but the RSX has the handling advantage. And Daytona is a Horsepower Track! As our confidence was high Travis radioed in a sudden harsh vibration coming from the front right wheel. It turns out that when we changed tires during the pit stop the crew noticed grease all over the inside of the right front wheel. They knew we had an injured car, but hoped the injury wouldn’t show up during the race. Well, it had.

Travis was battling for the lead with a severely handicapped car. He was fighting a major vibration that was trying to rip the steering wheel out of his hands. We were watching the monitors in pit lane with fingers crossed as he and Dobson fought it out. Still he and Billy worked together and were able to draft by him. The win was ours, we had a teammate as a blocking back and Ken looked to be content with 3rd. We counted down the minutes, time was the only thing not on our side. 20 minutes left.. 15.. 10.. 5…. Then as we watched the TVs it happened. Coming out of the chicane on the back straight Travis came up lame. Billy drove around him and all Travis could do was put it in neutral and coast back to the pits. With just 2 laps remaining the engine was no longer powering the wheels.

It was a tough loss, being that close and having it taken away by a variable that was out of anyone’s control. The part that failed was brand new and it’s just one of those things, as they say. It was hard, but we did all we could and at least we will get some good coverage when it airs on Speed Channel. The official date/time of when they will broadcast the race has not been released yet, but I guess it will be in about 3 weeks.

This was a big race for me, because the Kensai Team wanted to see how I would perform in a race with them before signing me for the whole season. I think I at least met expectations and will hopefully have a good ride for the rest of the season.