I have been waiting to write this update for a long time now.

We arrived at Mid-Ohio for our first on track session Thursday morning. This is one of the two tracks where we have an extra day to practice. Normally I can get up to speed quickly, so the short weekends are an advantage for me. In this case the extra day gave me time to practice and improve in a few areas. Mid-Ohio is a difficult track where the field is very tight. It is difficult to put together a perfect lap, as it is a fast, roller coaster ride with a lot of rhythm. It has fast and slow corners, uphill and down, and a very fast downhill straightaway.

I started the weekend near the top of the charts, however each session that I worked on a specific area, other areas suffered. I have been working with Josh on the mental training for qualifying and we were pushing hard. In fact, in the practice session prior to qualifying, I was so focused that I actually forgot that it was just practice. We finished the session in second and I was really disappointed that I didn’t get the pole. Then Josh came on the radio and said "It’s ok, we’ll get them in qualifying." Only then did I realize it was only practice.

For the actual qualifying we were chasing the changing track conditions and were a step behind. I was pushing equally as hard as the previous session, but the car wasn’t working as well as before and we didn’t address the problem quickly enough. I ended up in fourth place. We identified the problems with the car and expected the track to be quicker the following morning. It wasn’t so. Friday’s times would stick. The fastest time from Saturday would bump me down to fifth. This is only the second time this season that I had not started on the front two rows. I was worried. I didn’t have the highest expectations coming into the weekend based on my performance last year but things seemed to go my way once the race started.

I was on the inside of the third row for the start. We all barreled into the first turn and I came out third. Then I made a move to the outside of the following set of turns, and when they turned back to the right I was on the inside again and took another spot. After the first lap I was in second place. It took a few laps to catch the leader then a few more to see where he was struggling. I tried a crowd pleasing outside pass into turn seven, which didn’t work. However it made him check his mirrors and I found a way by on the next lap.

From there I was able to pull away. The car was perfect for the conditions and never faded. The tires came in after one lap and were good throughout the race. I had built up a good-sized lead, and knew that my pace was quick enough to maintain it. Then a full course caution came out and the field bunched up behind the pace car for a few laps to get it cleaned up. My lead gone, I was trying to formulate a restart strategy. Our tires had cooled and there would only be a few laps remaining. When I made my move I gained a slight advantage, however the car had picked up an understeer through Turn One which let the pack catch up a bit. I had to be defensive until the tires warmed back up. Then I was able to pull away again. The rest of the pack was battling it out which let me get away and take my first victory. What a great feeling!

I want to thank everyone for believing in me over the past few years. This has been a long time coming and it was in grasp a few times this year already. However, this time it happened. It was great to stand on the top spot of the podium. I wish you all could have been there with me.

I am off to Road America this weekend and look forward to continued success.

Until then