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Darlington Morning
Its about 11 o clock and I'm getting ready to head down to Darlington for the big night race. Got to say, I love me some night racing. Its just makes it that much better to watch a race at night when the sun has gone down, than to sit in the sun for 4 hours. Darlington is a place that I love to go race at. We always qualify good here and we usually run good. I just cant quit thinking of two years ago down there. Ryan was leading the race and we had the field by a strait away. The car was perfect, the driver was flawless, and pit stops were all 11 seconds. OK, the stops weren't 11's but they were good. We come in for one of our last stops just to put some tires on and gas the car, and all hell brakes loose. I remember it very clearly, I think. Ryan starts yelling push me push me. Usually this means he has stalled it, or it needs to be re-fired. So naturally when this happens we all start to push the car and usually Ryan re-fires it and away he goes. Not this time. We got down to the end of pit road and the car wasn't re-firing. This has never happened to us and we didn't know what was going on. So Matt yells for us to push the car back up pit road and get another run at it. We did that about 5 times. Nothing, the car wasn't starting. After the 5th time, the 2 car pit crew ran down pit road to sub in for some of our guys, who were dead tired. Pushing a 3600 pound car up and down pit road 5 times sucks. So when the two car got there and we switched out, one of the guys looked in the car and saw a red light on. Ryan couldn't see it because it was hidden by his hands. It was the kill switch light. The %$@! kill switch had been hit during the pit stop which cut the car off completely. Ryan turned the kill switch off and away he went. More than a few laps down, our day was done. Man that day was awful, we had the field smacked and blew it. I guess the only thing to do is learn from it. I really would like to have a day like that today. Minus the whole kill switch thing. Atleast that would help me forget about two years ago. Oh well, I'm off to Darlington.
May 7, 2005 in Race Day | Permalink
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Comments
Hey Trent,
I think something is quite odd in your posting; you speak pretty fondly of the #2 team when your guy needs help and now when the #2 team is looking for some communication and cooperation from the #12 team he gets nothing but silence and Ryan acts like they aren't even teammates and Borland is the same.
Posted by: Jon | May 7, 2005 3:39:25 PM
Hey Jon,
I remeber that day. We helped them push. Robbie Fuller(now with the 15) saw the light. As for your other comment, us boys get along just fine. I think everybody blows this Penske fighting up because they are tired of talking about how stupid Jr was for switching crew cheifs and crews. Jst my take...Trent we got your back again if you driver pushed his kill switch again.
Littau
Posted by: Dave Littau | May 7, 2005 4:29:38 PM
Dave,
I am sure it is being blown out of proportion it is just another topic of conversation. Keep up the great work.
Posted by: Jon | May 7, 2005 10:55:51 PM
hey I hope you read this Trent before you make your next post. Although I'm a Kevin Harvick fan and I disagree with you about what you said about him in Daytona, I think you guys got shafted by Roush Racing tonight, let me ask you a few questions: who brought out the last caution of the night? who got no damage by bringing out that caution? where was the man who brought the caution out running before it came out? and where did he finish? also, who is he teammates with????
Posted by: matt | May 8, 2005 12:23:18 AM
Hey man, been reading your blog for a month or two now. I'm a Hendrick fan but I gotta say you guys got robbed tonight.
I'm not a big Newman fan, but he's sure a tough and talented driver and you guys ran a great race tonight. That last yellow screwed ya, though. I guess that why they say, "Thats Racin".
Keep up the good work, lookin forward to seein you guys in the Chase.
Posted by: LOL | May 8, 2005 12:53:31 AM
Shafted by Roush Racing???
I dunno about that one Matt. Yeah Mark lost it when he tried to turn under Kahne, but he got damn lucky that he didn't hit the inside wall or get hit by another car. Hell, that caution was justified cause there were cars going high and low of the 6 while he was spinning. So Mark's lucky he didn't get wrecked. And as a big Martin fan, I was pissed when he lost it but that's racing too. He was running as hard as he could there, trying to finish 3rd.
Trent, I feel for you guys there. If Mark didn't lose it, you guys had the race won. Keep your heads up and get em next weekend.
Posted by: Joe | May 8, 2005 8:49:44 PM
Darlington will break your heart, Trent. I remember last November when I was there, and Ryan was doing amazingly and blew an engine. Then the kill switch deal in 2003, and now what happened Sunday. I am so glad I ended up not going to that race...I don't think I could have stood seeing that in person!
Posted by: Stephanie | May 9, 2005 12:11:40 PM
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