Round 12 - Bristol Motor Speedway

The question as the trucks rolled into Bristol was whether the recent upturn in my form continue at Nascar's toughest short track.

With a lot of cars on track at one time setting a fast time in practise proved difficult but midway through the session I managed to set the fastest time (17.581).

In qualifying I went a tad slower (17.636) but still managed to get pole position.

In the race I stayed in the top 3 always fisghtng for the lead until on lap 29 I received a warning for rough driving when lapping slower vehicles. I then decided that for the remaining 21 laps I wouldn't take any unnescesary risks. This plan worked as I finished in 3rd place.

I lead for only 7 laps which gained me 5 bonus points. My fastest racing lap was 17.350 which was faster tahn both my practise and qualifying times.

Round 11 - Indianapolis Raceway Park

Round 11 of the series took place at O'Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis. The trucks do not race at the more famous motor speedway.

After my third place finish at Milwaukee I was expecting good things from this race and the race weekend started brightly enough when I set the fastest time in practise (23.103).

The 2 lap qualifying period went well to as I improved my best time by half a second to grab pole position (22.612).

The race went to plan as I ran in the top 2 for the entire 50 laps. I did get one warning for rough contact but managed to keep out of further trouble and so avoid the black flag.

Six laps from the end I took the lead and held it until the chequered flag. A win at last.

I led for 31 laps which gave me 10 bonus points. My fastest race lap was 22.605 which was quicker than I qualified.

Round 10 - Milwaukee

The famous Milwaukee Mile played host to round 10 of the series.

I was 2nd fastest after the 10 lap practise session with a time of 30.969.

Could I go one better in qualifying and grab the pole? The answer was no, a time of 30.952 was only good enough for a 6th place start.

In the race I made my quickly up to, mainly 2nd place but I did manage to lead 7 laps which gave me my 5 bonus points. All was fine until lap 30 when, yet again I recieved the black flag! It wasn't a total disaster though as a yellow came out while I was in pitlane so I was able to rejoin in 14th! In the remaining 20 or so laps I worked my way up 3rd. Not a bad race considering!

Round 9 - Michigan International Speedway

Michigan Super Speedway was home to round 9 of the series.

This high banked oval which boasts speeds of 153mph in the corners is one of Nascar's fastest tracks.

The race weekend started off with the mandatory 10 lap practise session. I was in the top 10 just , placing 8th with a time of 41.805.

Qualifying next and the question was could I get further up the grid? The answer was no as I could only manage 11thalthough I was only 88 hundredths slower with a time of 41.893.

The race turned out to be something special for me - no black flags. On the first lap I passed two cars to go 9th and that is where I stayed for the 25 laps. I was running on my own all the time and was losing between 0.3 and 0.5 seconds per lap to the leader.

Round 8 - Texas Motor Speedway

Round 8 took place at one of the fastest tracks on the championship circuit, Texas Motorspeedway.

The race weekend started well as I was fastest straight out of the box in practise with a time of 31.111 after the mandatory 10 laps.

I was a tad faster in qualifying and managed to claim pole position with a time of 34.084.

The 43 lap race followed a similar pattern to the previous 7 although I do feel that I have made significant progress as regards my driving style. For the first 34 laps I ran in the top 5, leading 12 of them.

On lap 35 I received the dreaded black flag. After the mandatory drive through penalty I only had 3 laps to make up as many places as possible. I actually passed 7 trucks to finish 29th.

No change in the standings - 26th.