I always look forward to Atlanta. Its fairly close to home, all my friends go and its my favorite dirt of the year. It does add a little pressure to have everyone there but you have to take the good with the bad. The trip to Atlanta went well, its only a 1 hour flight. We had a big team dinner Friday night and everyone had a good time.
The first practice wasn't too bad... I felt like I could still go faster but I wasn't far off where I needed to be. I watched the other guys and tried to figure out a few things to help my pace for the 2nd session. The track changed a lot for the 2nd practice and the times got faster. Some parts were more difficult but the whoops were much easier and was the big difference. I finished practice in 8th overall, by far my best qualifying of the year. It was a good confidence builder for the night.
I was in heat 2, and that's fine with me. Ive always preferred heat 2 for some reason, maybe it's because I get to watch what everyone else does before I have to go out there. Anyways, I got a great start and came out of the 1st turn in 3rd behind Reed and Millsaps. I tried to stay with them but that was not looking so good. I lost touch with them after 2 laps and just tried to sprint and focus ahead. I was good until about 3 laps to go when Ferry, who happens to be a really close friend, went by and simply checked out. I couldnt believe how fast he pulled away. Later I saw that he had the fastest lap in the heat, so it made a little more sense. I finished the heat in 4th, which I was really happy with, giving me a good gate pick for the main.
I ended up starting in the same gate as the heat race, right next to Millsaps again. I had good luck with it in the heat, so I figured why change. Everything looked good but I spun really bad behind the gate this time. It was really dry and dusty for some reason and I just didnt get any traction. I came into the first turn towards the back and tried to not go down in any pileups. The first half of the race was pretty boring, I couldnt pass anyone or really even make time up. I just hovered in around 14th or 15th. As the laps went on, I started to pass a few guys and a few guys crashed out. I saw the positions start to come down on the pit board and I just tried to pass the guys directly in front of me. I had a big battle with Ryan Clark and squeezed by him at the end. That put me in 10th at the checkers, something I could live with.
Overall, it was a great day. I felt fast all day and didn't have a lot of problems. Indianapolis is coming up this weekend and I hope for more of the same. I like the dirt there and I'm sure the track will be tough. I'm still looking for that top 5 start in the main event but all I can do is keep working at it. Thanks for reading and wish me luck in Indy!
