Round two of the 2002 season was held at Lime Rock Park over Memorial Day weekend. Last year’s race brought torrential rains. This year however, everyone enjoyed a beautiful New England weekend. Friday brought the first practice session and proved that experience pays. I was 4/10th of a second quicker than the next competitor. That’s quite a bit on a 1.5-mile track. I consider Lime Rock to be my home track and it was good to start off so strong.

Provisional qualifying came that afternoon. The track had deteriorated throughout the day as temperatures rose. I struggled with the changes in the track and just missed the pole by nine hundredths of a second, which would have earned me a guaranteed spot on the front row for the race, as well as one championship point.

Saturday’s final qualifying came earlier in the day, which, as anticipated, brought cooler temperatures and a faster track, by nearly a second. This meant that everyone would have to earn their spots on the grid again. I grabbed the pole on my 5th lap and held it until five minutes left in the session. The combination of a short track and 23 cars made it difficult to get a clean lap. Every time I would find some space, a car went off course or came out of the pits in front of me. I could not get one clean lap for the last 15 minutes of the session and had to settle for second place again. Qualifying is vital at Lime Rock because there is only one passing opportunity, so I was quite happy that we had a front-row spot. I had been either 1st or 2nd quick in every session.

Even though I was towards the front, I knew the car could be better. After consulting with my engineer, Josh Browne, we decided to take advantage of the Monday morning warmup by making some changes to the car. This warmup afforded us an opportunity we normally don’t have. If I didn’t like the changes, we could go back to the old settings and be confident that the car was a front-runner. If we liked the changes, then that was even better. Sure enough, the changes were better. But a brake problem that had been plaguing me all weekend was actually getting worse. Every time I went into Turn One my right front tire would lock up. This meant that I would have to brake earlier into the only real passing opportunity on the track. Needless to say, I was concerned. Prior to the race we checked everything -- brake bias, corner weights, the tire itself -- but didn’t find anything.

As we started the race, the pole-sitter, A.J. Allmendinger, edged me out for the lead and I tucked in behind him. I ran right behind him for the first third of the race until my brakes started giving me trouble again. I went wide in Turn One and allowed the leader to gain a 10-car-length lead. The field bunched up when we hit lapped traffic. Not only did I need to get through traffic, but I also had to fend off attacks from 3rd and 4th place. I got a lucky break with one of the lapped cars and gained an advantage that put me solidly into 2nd place. Then there was a yellow flag as two cars got together in the downhill turn, bunching up the field again for a three-lap sprint to the finish. My brake problem continued and consequently I wasn’t confident to attack the leader on the restart. I was however able to get away from the pack behind me through the infield section. In fact, the change we made in the morning was really the reason I was able to stay in front. (So a big "thank you" to Josh for convincing me to try the change.)

Finishing in 2nd puts me two points out of 2nd place for the championship and gave me a chance to spray champagne and meet the trophy girls. The season will be fast and furious from now until September. The next two rounds will be on June 7th at Laguna Seca and June 14th in Portland.

Until then...