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We qualified tenth overall, which is better than we've ever done at this track. Looking at our practice times, it didn't surprise us to be taking the green flag towards the front of the pack.

On race day, everybody is serious… call it "getting your game face on" or what have you, but you don't think about anything but getting in the truck, and driving to the front. You just kinda get "in the zone".

"Dropping a cylinder is weird, because you never know what's going to happen. Sometimes you blow up, and other times you simply keep going..."

When the race started, I quickly moved up to 7th place, and decided to be patient and ride it out. The seat was comfortable, and I had a cool suit to prevent me from overheating. Somewhere around lap 40 a caution came out, and that's when I noticed something not right under the hood. The green came back out, and I had no horsepower. I dropped a cylinder. Dropping a cylinder is weird, because you never know what's going to happen. Sometimes you blow up, and other times you simply keep going, but with fewer ponies under the hood. On this day, it was the "go but don't blow" scenario for us.

On the next caution, Jerry and the guys looked under the hood to see if there was anything obvious going on… a plug wire missing, or something else along those lines. They couldn't find anything so I went back out to do the best I could under the circumstances.

As it turned out, the setup Jerry gave me in this truck was phenomenal. While I couldn't really keep up with the fast guys on the straights, I was passing them in the corners! Granted, we rolled out a new sponsor just before this race, and I would have preferred to have a better showing. But, I can't help but keep my chin up because of the excellent job Jerry and the guys did in setting up this truck. This is racing. Things are going to break, and you can't help it.

By the end of the race, I stayed on the lead lap, and was actually running faster on seven cylinders than a couple other trucks on eight! We finished fourteenth, but under the circumstances, that's not that bad. We didn't blow an engine, we stayed on the lead lap and most importantly, and we have a fantastic setup ready to go the next time we race here.

Looking ahead to Bakersfield:

We can't help but feel optimistic about this next race, and all the rest of the races this season! Our Phoenix truck will be the same truck in Bakersfield, utilizing a drop-snout configuration. For whatever reason, we tend to run real tight at this track, and the drop snout should help us out a ton. We had no damage to the truck in Phoenix, so we're going to shine her up, and get her ready to go at it again! I'm not one to make predictions, but once again, look for us to have a LOT more trucks behind us than in front of us (if there's any in front of us at all!) See you in Bakersfield!

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Volume 3:
Homestead
Qualified 10th Finished 14th

Diary Segments
Terry Cook's Biography
Volume I - Road to Daytona
Volume II - Daytona 250
Volume III - Florida Dodge Dealers
400
Volume IV - The Mini-Vacation
Volume V - Chevy Trucks 150
Volume VI - Dodge California Truck Stop 250
Volume VII - Napa 250
Volume VIII - Line-X 225K
Volume IX - Ram Tough 200
Volume X - Memphis 200
Volume XI - Grainger.com 200
Volume XII - Sears 200
Volume XIII - DieHard 200
Volume XIV - Silverado 200

Volume V Pages:
Page 1
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