My Daytona Week

It's about 3:30 pm here in Daytona, and I have arrived for the race. I left home at 7:00 am Sunday morning. After a stop to attend church in Gadsden, AL, I traveled south before stopping for the evening. Now I'm at Daytona ready to begin a busy week leading up to Saturday's race.

Here are some of the highlights of this week's activities:

Tuesday:
- Registration begins and garage opens
- Prep car for inspections
- Attend meetings

Wednesday:
- Attend Crew Chief Qualifying Procedure meeting
- Attend Team Owner business meeting

Thursday:
- Practice 12-5

Friday:
- Prep car for qualifying line at 9:00 am
- Qualifying begins at 12:00 pm

It is a time of mixed feelings for me. On one hand, I'm excited about the race and love being at the track. On the other hand, there is a 99% chance I won't make the field for the race. I hate to sound pessimistic, but I have to be realistic. There are more than 75 entries for the race, and a lot of them are part of well funded racing teams.

It is a long shot that we'll make this week's race, but attempting to qualify for all races helps me accumulate points under ARCA's Golden Plan point system. And, if qualifying were to be rained out, we will make the race based on '07 points. While I'd rather drive my way into the ARCA 200, I would accept the good fortune of making the field by a rain out, too!

- Tim