~Nashvile Journal~

Hi Y’All I hope y’all don’t mind if I keep this journal entry short. I’m really tired and the heat blister on my foot is killing me. With the Easter celebration tomorrow (praise God that’s the best news of all) I wanted to be sure and write y’all tonight while I have the time and energy. Man, what a race! I know it was only 320 laps, but it felt like 3,200; especially those last 50 or so. Coming into this race, I knew that the one thing I needed to concentrate on more than anything else was being patient. Those who have seen me race in the past know that sometimes I have a tendency to drive aggressively for position; you know, to try and create my own opportunities rather than just take what the track will give me. Knowing full well the trouble this has caused me in the past at tracks like Texas, I was determined to come to Nashville and race with patience. So much so that I posted a little note on my dashboard to remind me to be patient when I would otherwise feel that impulse to drive aggressively. Needless to say the strategy worked very well. I’m convinced that the main reason I was able to run in the top 7 for most of the afternoon was because I was in fact racing very patiently. Not that it was an easy thing for me to do; especially with regard to Casey Atwood. In addition to being a good friend, Casey and I really enjoy competing against each other. For those who saw the race, you know that Casey and I were battling each other bumper to bumper throughout a good portion of the race. Man, it was great!! More than once I had to glance over to my note and remind myself to race my race and not get caught up in the excitement of racing against Casey. Halfway through the race everything was going great. We were a strong, steady 5th place. The car was running great and I was feeling extremely confident that if I continued to race patiently, we would be right there with the leaders at the end of the race. Through all of this, I remember thinking how much I love to race at Nashville speedway. About that time the caution flag came out and I followed the leader into the pits for what I thought would be a routine pit stop. Unfortunately, it turned out to be anything but routine. It wasn’t until after I left pit row that Lance signaled over the radio that I would have to come back in. In their haste to get me back onto the track, my crew dropped the car off the jack with only one lug nut on the front tire. In a split second all our hopes of a top 5 finish, not to mention the chance of winning the race, were gone. Man, that was a long lap back to the pits. I know some might be quick to blame my pit crew for losing this race: you know, “poor Adam raced his heart out today; to bad his crew had to screw it all up for him” kind of thing. Now please don’t take this the wrong way, but I refuse to tolerate that kind of thinking. On any given day, I will put my pit crew up against any in the business. These guys are the best. Sure they made a mistake today, but it was no worse than mine was last week in Texas. Like me, they will certainly learn from the mistake and use it to become even better than they are right now. The point is, we are a team through the good times as well as the bad. As for the rest of the race, needless to say it was really tough to maintain the enthusiasm and intensity I had prior to the pit stop. All in all, I was happy to salvage 13th place out of today’s race. As for me personally, I feel completely drained physically and emotionally. When I’m ready to recharge and start preparing myself for Bristol next week, I want y’all to know that one of the first places I’ll go is your discussion page on my web site. As always, thank you for your encouraging thoughts and comments; y’all fire me up! Keep hanging in there because we’re going to return the favor next week in Bristol! Happy Easter and God Bless, ADAM

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