Garrett Duke

Thank-you for your "novel" I enjoyed reading it....Oooo you missed the race. Which means you also missed Gordon's 20th spot finish as well. Lucky you I guess. Can't recall where Edwards finished out at, as I said earlier, I was too worried about Gordon and Johnson. Gordon dropped a cylinder which made them think they had engine probles. Guess at one time he was down to two. So as he said, he is lucky to be able to finish it in 20th...

Anyway, if I do go to a race, I'll let you know. Though first I'd have to find someone to go with. HA HA. I am not all that adventurous and wouldn't do it on my own. I hate driving not alone somewhere I don't know. I don't do interestate and all that fancy stuff either. But if I do get go, you will be the first or one of the first people I let know. Perhaps I'll be able to convince my parents to go...LOL. But yeah, I bet it will be addicting and a great experience!

The tracks you mentioned would be awesome too to go see. Michigan is Gordon's favorite track so would like to go there too, he is good there too. Don't know about Texas, he's only won once there. Charolette sounds great too with the shops to go see, would love to see Gordon's and Johnson as well as the rest of Hendrick shops. Daytona 500 I think would be great with all the hype that goes with it.

Lucky you...you get to go to Bristol! I love Bristol for several reasons. Though I have never been to a race, I've been to Bristol for Dukefest (twice, but only got to go inside the staduim or seating once) and ChicagoLand to ride in Jr's #8 car in Richard Petty's Driving Experience. So they would be my two favorite tracks I'd say. Plus ChicagoLand is the nearest track to me (Though way too expensive to go. Cheapest seats are like $108...don't know about you, but if I'm gonna pay that price, I want to see it first hand. HA HA. Plus Bristol is fast, lot of action, and Gordon does great there.

I don't understand what is on with DW and Hammond. I don't remember them ever being this way. I always thought of them being the best at being positive about everyone. I know people at Gordon's fan forum are upset and dislike them greatly (Then again, they all (for the most part) seem to think Gordon should get rid of Letart and get a new crew cheif too...)They should be a lot more impartial than they are, it is just frustrating to see them negative about your driver or rooting against them and all. Hopefully they will get better. . .(there's always hope)

Jr does have a lot of bad luck...oh I forgot what I was going to say in my last message about his broken axle. Lance McGrew was getting upset at his crew during the change - it took them forever to get a new axle in there. They played Jr's radio and McGrew said to his crew: If you don't have a new axle in the pits ..." I can't remember the rest of it, but it wasn't good. DW or another announcer made a comment that McGrew was none too happy or something like that.

Johnson does have a lot of good luck - you'd think he'd share some with his team mates and all...

Well you aren't going to like the news on Jr too much...it was on his own doing. He broke the axle during one of his last pit stops (get this) he was spinning the tires when they dropped the car after changing the tires. Can't believe he would be spinning the tires when they dropped ...don't know about cars, but I'd imagine that wouldn't be too good for it. Though if I remember right, at the end of last season there was a couple of cars that broke axles...one was Vickers who changed it in record timing in the pits while I think Johnson had to go behind the wall to get his fixed. Johnson broke his axle last week at Daytona, but that was due to the track (I don't care what DW says, I still think it was the track that did it to him!)

Yup Happy Harvick hit the wall on the last lap. Not too bad, but enough to break his momentum he had on Johnson. RCR cars were doing good...I think the announcers made a point of pointing that out a few times throughout the race as well. Havick and Burton are alright, like them better than I use to.

There ewas some funny pictures in there...no they were not JJ fans and they did seem to like Jr.

WHAT?! You didn't watch the race? What has gotten into you? Maybe you should go lay down...go to the doctors...are you feeling alright? LOL. I suppose some things are important enough to miss a race and I guess that may be one of the things that may require you to miss a race. It is hard to say no to family you haven't seen in a while especially when they live far away. I am glad you got to see them...just don't miss another race! Got that? HA HA

Well I know I should write to you...I already wrote you a long enough and boring enough novel. But had a question I thought of during the race yesterday. Which races are you planning on going to this year? LOL. I was never too big on the idea of going to them because I figured I'd see it better on TV and the announcers would explain everything plus, with my luck, Gordon would crash on the first lap and I'd be forced to watch the whole race without him in it. Sadly, I find it hard to watch when Gordon is not in it...though I'd still have Johnson unless it was another race like Daytona. Anyway, I have the urge to go to one now, though don't know if I ever will. Oh well. Tried to convince my dad to go to the All-Star race, but he laughed at me and didnt' take me serious...so I take that as a no. HA HA. Anyway, was curious which ones you are going to...which track is your favorite?

Well I better shut up now with my rant with the race...am just frustrated by it at the moment. If all that wasn't enough, after the race, I left the TV to find it snowing outside! I'm dog sitting so I'll have farther to drive in it in the morning - where's spring anyway? Anywhow, how'd your drivers finish the race? Guess I didn't pay much attention to drivers outside of Hendrick, other than Harvick and Burton that is. I'm pretty sure McMurray and Edwards finished better than Gordon, though I can't say where at the moment. Hope they all had great finishes and that you enjoyed the race. Sorry for all my ranting...if I put Gordon aside and DW and Jeff and their comments, it was a pretty good race. Can't wait to hear what you thought of the race. . .

Hope you had a great weekend and that you will have an awesome week this week.

And Gordon...Dang, he started out so good, like last week, and then at the end he was having dang engine problems. DW and Jeff H didn't seem too sad about that either. Were surprised to see him still on the track. I should be excited, I mean Johnson won the race. But somehow am frustrated with it. I am excited about Johnson winning, frustrated about the rest of it, that sounds better I guess. Jr had a lousy race too, was really hoping he'd back it up with a strong finish. Though his whole attitude seemed to change since last week - it's back to how it was last year (at least before the race it seemed to be - or am I the only one to think that?)

Well the race just got over...dang was it frustrating. I love Darrell and Jeff H in the booth, but what was their deal today? What do they have against JJ? I mean they seemed so agaisnt him...I mean they (At least DW) was going for Harvick and Burton to win, was excited when they got closer to him. I was excited to see JJ win, one I like him, two because they were so against him. ERRR Don't have much agaisnt Harvick, though am not a fan of his, but was glad to see him slap the wall when he did to slow him down. Is that mean of me?

Sorry that I missed you earlier on. The race was on. If you still want to chat, I can chat for a few minutes.