Mexico Qualifying
Danni
RESULTS
1. Colin Braun
21. Scott
33. David
Ugh. I can't stand this place.
Yesterday's final practice was not very kind to our guys. Early on, David spun during his first lap (according to the booth - they went away to commercial as the cars got on the track
). Then, on his second lap, he didn't pull hard enough on the stick and it popped gear while he was entering that last massive turn. He did a good job saving the Dream Machine from total carnage but still managed to scrape that stupid concrete wall with all the carvings in it with the rear of the car. It was like taking a cheese grater to your butt. 
If that had been a safer barrier (which are absent at this place!), he would have had probably less than half that damage. So that was pretty much it for the #99 team's chances of dialing the car in for qualifying. 
Scott also got into a scuffle with Joe Fox, a newcomer. Fox was slow and when Scott attempted to pass him, they made contact which did a pretty good number on the #29's right front. Luckily, it wasn't enough to park them in the garage for two hours.
Then, in the closing minutes of "Happy Hour", ESPN got a hold of David for an interview. Of course, he began bashing himself about what happened and lamenting the fact that he caused unnecessary work for his guys, so he was helping them out. The following was the kicker: "If you're gonna be stupid, you might as well be tough." Well. I've seen a lot more experienced guys screw up at these road courses! It was a mistake, not stupid! At least he didn't knock the wall down like poor Landon Cassil and Joe Fox later in the session. The car looked good in the previous practice (11th!). I know it hurt that they never got back out on track but it could've been a lot worse.
David - Darrell said "Don't beat yourself" for a reason.
Qualifying today wasn't the greatest thing in the world. At first I got kind of excited because David was grouped to go out in the first 6-car stint, which occurred early in the morning. So the cooler track maybe give him an advantage, right? WRONG. Of course, it just had to rain the night before. David whupped everyone for about the first three groups or so. But eventually I had to face it that the lap wasn't good, as his start indicates. He still blamed himself for everything, but said some interesting and funny things:
"We just had to be ultra conservative -- we didn't have to be, but I kind of painted ourselves into a box here with me messing up yesterday. We didn't get a chance to do a qualifying run (during practice). The car was pretty free that time and it was about just staying on course and putting down a decent lap. We put in a lap where we didn't tear anything up. The Aaron's Dream Machine Camry has been pretty good since we unloaded it and I just messed it up. I have to thank all my guys because they really thrashed this thing back together. On top of that, I have to thank the NASCAR officials because they worked with us really well trying to get everything fixed. I have to thank them as well.
"Chris Cook helped me out a lot out there at Infineon. I learned a ton of stuff and a lot of that stuff I applied in my first practice session where we were 12th on the speed chart. That was a big jump up from last year. I made a miscue there in the second practice and that was definitely something Chris did not teach me. I learned a lot, like how to apply things and breaking points as well as turn-ins and all that kind of stuff that I didn't know before. Hopefully I'll be able to use it in the race and we'll see what we have on Sunday."
What? NASCAR officials actually help drivers and teams?!
And I had to laugh at the Chris Cook thing. Even when things didn't look so hot for David's lap, he still maintained a sense of humor.
Look who's on the pole. Wow. Scott Pruett is starting second. I really want to see this first lap!
1. Colin Braun
21. Scott
33. David
Ugh. I can't stand this place.
Yesterday's final practice was not very kind to our guys. Early on, David spun during his first lap (according to the booth - they went away to commercial as the cars got on the track
). Then, on his second lap, he didn't pull hard enough on the stick and it popped gear while he was entering that last massive turn. He did a good job saving the Dream Machine from total carnage but still managed to scrape that stupid concrete wall with all the carvings in it with the rear of the car. It was like taking a cheese grater to your butt. If that had been a safer barrier (which are absent at this place!), he would have had probably less than half that damage. So that was pretty much it for the #99 team's chances of dialing the car in for qualifying. Scott also got into a scuffle with Joe Fox, a newcomer. Fox was slow and when Scott attempted to pass him, they made contact which did a pretty good number on the #29's right front. Luckily, it wasn't enough to park them in the garage for two hours.
Then, in the closing minutes of "Happy Hour", ESPN got a hold of David for an interview. Of course, he began bashing himself about what happened and lamenting the fact that he caused unnecessary work for his guys, so he was helping them out. The following was the kicker: "If you're gonna be stupid, you might as well be tough." Well. I've seen a lot more experienced guys screw up at these road courses! It was a mistake, not stupid! At least he didn't knock the wall down like poor Landon Cassil and Joe Fox later in the session. The car looked good in the previous practice (11th!). I know it hurt that they never got back out on track but it could've been a lot worse.
David - Darrell said "Don't beat yourself" for a reason.
Qualifying today wasn't the greatest thing in the world. At first I got kind of excited because David was grouped to go out in the first 6-car stint, which occurred early in the morning. So the cooler track maybe give him an advantage, right? WRONG. Of course, it just had to rain the night before. David whupped everyone for about the first three groups or so. But eventually I had to face it that the lap wasn't good, as his start indicates. He still blamed himself for everything, but said some interesting and funny things:
"We just had to be ultra conservative -- we didn't have to be, but I kind of painted ourselves into a box here with me messing up yesterday. We didn't get a chance to do a qualifying run (during practice). The car was pretty free that time and it was about just staying on course and putting down a decent lap. We put in a lap where we didn't tear anything up. The Aaron's Dream Machine Camry has been pretty good since we unloaded it and I just messed it up. I have to thank all my guys because they really thrashed this thing back together. On top of that, I have to thank the NASCAR officials because they worked with us really well trying to get everything fixed. I have to thank them as well.
"Chris Cook helped me out a lot out there at Infineon. I learned a ton of stuff and a lot of that stuff I applied in my first practice session where we were 12th on the speed chart. That was a big jump up from last year. I made a miscue there in the second practice and that was definitely something Chris did not teach me. I learned a lot, like how to apply things and breaking points as well as turn-ins and all that kind of stuff that I didn't know before. Hopefully I'll be able to use it in the race and we'll see what we have on Sunday."
What? NASCAR officials actually help drivers and teams?!
And I had to laugh at the Chris Cook thing. Even when things didn't look so hot for David's lap, he still maintained a sense of humor.Look who's on the pole. Wow. Scott Pruett is starting second. I really want to see this first lap!
