We've been on quite a roll lately in KONI Challenge competition. Two races ago Billly Johnson (my co-driver) and I finished third at Barber Motorsports Park. Then we finished second at Le Circuit de Trois Rivieres. As we headed into Miller Motorsports Park a couple of weeks ago, the hope was high that we could continue moving up the podium steps.
Well, as some of you may have heard, the No. 61 ROUSH/Valvoline Mustang did win the KONI Challenge event at Miller Motorsports Park on September 18. It was great to get the first win both for myself in the KONI Challenge, as well as the first win for our new Horsepower Ranch team. The guys on the team have worked very hard all year, and though we've been running very well a number of times, small (and often hard to prevent) mechanical failures stopped our run short or prevented us from running as fast as we were able. Lately, we've seemed to work through all those gremlins and the car has been fast - and reliable - on the racetrack.
During our stints at Miller, both Billy and I both had intense battles with other cars on the track. As the race was coming to an end, though, the battle Billy was in just got more and more intense. He and Bill Auberlen ended up swapping positions multiple times over the closing laps, but Billy made a pass on the Auberlen's BMW on the final lap for the lead and kept the spot through to the finish line.
I'd like to thank our sponsors for helping achieve this victory: ROUSH Performance, Valvoline, and MossMuscle.com. I'd also like to thank Ford for providing such a great base race car for us to compete with. You can watch this race on SPEED this Saturday, Oct 3, 1:30 p.m. (Eastern).
I can't be more proud of our whole team, and I look forward to our upcoming race at Virginia International Raceway this weekend to go for our second win. We're up to fourth in the team point championship, only ten shy of the third place car. This is one of my best and favorite racetracks, so another solid run could help us move up in the final season standings.