Round 7 - Dover - Delaware

The Monster Mile that is Dover played host to round 7 of the series.

compared to recent rounds practise was a little disappointing as I could only manage a 3rd best time of 27.515.

Qualifying went a whole lot better as I posted the fastest time and secured another pole position (27.370).

The raced turned out to be yet another disaster. I led until lap 4 when after causing a yellow flag period I was given a black flag. Despite being a lap down at one point, I had by lap 45 risen to 24th. Alas it was not to be as I recieved my second black flag. A 34th place finish was the best I could do.

I did pick up the 5 bonus points for leading a lap.

Round 6 - Lowes Motorspeedway - Charlotte

The fifth round of series saw the trucks roll in to Lowes motorspeedway (formerly Charlotte) in North Carolina.

Another solid practise session where again I was fastest with a time of 32.659 after the 10 laps.

Qualifying followed the pattern of practise as I was again fastest with a time of 32.689.

The race went the sane way as the previous few rounds. The lead was help for 17 laps then I recieved my first black flag for dangerous driving, the second was for speeding in the pitlane!

I did eventually finish 26th thanks to 2 caution periods where I was the lucky dog and got my laps back.

There does appear to be a bug in the program in that according to NASCAR rules if a driver causes a yellow flag period he cannot be the lucky dog for that caution period, I did it twice and got 2 laps back! 

I was down to 25th in the standings.

Round 5 - Kansas

Round 5 took place at the very fast Kansas Motor Speedway.

As usual it seems I had a very good practise session, topping the timing sheets with a time of 33.886.

Qualifying did not go so well as I could only manage a 34.077 which saw me on the 9th row in 17th place.

The early going was littered with yellow caution periods albeit caused by me it must be said however by lap 26 of the 42 laps I had worked my way into the lead.

I held the lead for 6 laps before I recieved the first of my 2 black flags. I finshed a lap down in 35th place. My fastest lap was a 31.692 which was my quickest lap of the weekend.

25th in standings!

Round 4 - Martinsville

Round 4 of the series took place on the tight 'paper clip' 0,5 mile oval that is Martinsville.

I was quckest over the 10 lap practise session with a time of 21.504.

I couldn't match that time in qualifying but I still managed pole with a time of 21.811.

In the race, I led for the first 13 laps and then it all went horribly wrong as I given the my first black flag. The next two were given as I tried to make my way through all the traffic. 36 cars on a half mile oval is a lot!

To add more misery, during one of the longer green flag periods there was an accident ahead which inadvertently caused me enter the pit lane for an unscheduled stop!

Needless to say I finished 36th.

I did though lead for 20 of the 67 laps with a best lap of 21.217.

21st in the standings now 169 points behind the leader.

Round 3 - Atlanta Motor Speedway

Round 3 of the series took place at the very fast Atlanta Motor Speedway in Georgia.

I started off the race weekend with a very satisfying practise session, where after my 10 laps I was 5th fastest with a time of 31.814.

Qualifying went even better for me as I qualified just off the front row in 3rd place with a time of 31.808.

 

In the race I found myself in the lead after the first 3 of the 37 laps. The racing was close as shown by the warning I received for dangerous driving on lap 13.

I managed to be in the lead 2 laps from the end when under pressure from the trucks behind I caused the race's only yellow flag period which inevitably led to the dreaded black flag.

I finshed last in 36th place after having led 20 of the 37 laps!

My fastest time in the race was 31.692 which was quicker than I qualified!

I ended up back down in 13th place in the overall standings 169 points behind the current leader.

Round 2 - Auto Club Raceway (California)

Round 2 of the series took place at the Auto Club Speedway, previously Fontana in sunny California.

I was fastest in practise with a time 42.539 after my 10 laps.

In qualifying I was able to reproduce my fom and duly qualified in pole with times of 42.483 and 42.435.

There were 2 yellow flag periods in the first 10 laps, only one of which was caused by me. I was still leading when the third yellow came out on lap 24.

As lap 24 was the penultimate lap this caused a GREEN/WHITE/CHEQUER scenario meaning that the race length was increased to 29 laps.

I survived the retart to record my first win of the season.

My best lap of the race was 42.413 which was faster than I qualified!

I was now up to 8th in the standings, 44 points adrift of the leader.

Round 1 - Daytona International Raceway

For this series I decided to set a limit for practise of 10 laps. This is more than I would normally do.

I ended up 19th fastest after practise with a best time of 53.074 seconds.

Qualifying for this series (and all other NASCAR championships) is in a 2 lap dash format. The track is empty at this point.

I qualified in my usual position for a super-speedway, 36th and last! My times were 53.129 and 53.105 not bad for consistency.

Although I qualified well down in the field, I decided to take things easy early and try to avoid any early trouble and of course the notorious black flag. After five laps or so I started to close up to the pack and began to pick of cars one by one.

By the end of the race I had risen to 24th (91 points) my best ever finish on a super-speedway!

The winning time was 22:38 for the 25 lap (62.5 miles) race and I finished 12.73 seconds behind.

My best lap was 52.232 - better than my qualifying time!