| By Erin Crocker, Special to NASCAR.COM
August 23, 2006
12:24 PM EDT (16:24 GMT)
Note: Erin Crocker is 21st in the Craftsman Truck Series point standings. She has finished 27th or worse in the last four races and 24th or worse in nine of the last 10, with a season-best 16th at Kansas the lone exception heading into tonight's race at Bristol Motor Speedway. It's no secret we've struggled in the Truck Series lately and we're well aware we're not where we want to be. We had a big meeting after the race in Nashville, Tenn., two weeks ago to figure out what's going on. I've run well in the ARCA car and fairly well in the Busch Series car, but for some reason we haven't gotten results with the truck. It's important for my fans to realize I'm not happy with the way things are. Team owner Ray Evernham's not happy with the way things are and I'm sure my sponsor, General Mills, wants a better performance. The meeting was good. Meetings we've had before were more informal. I'd go to the shop and we'd talk a little bit about the race and things the crew was working on. We tried to formalize it and go over the thoughts in each person's head. We talked about the race and went through each comment I made on the radio, each adjustment we made. At Nashville we had problems where the crew went further out with our adjustments and made the car worse. I made mistakes, like a pit-road speeding penalty. We really picked through that race, and then we talked in general about our communication. Ray was at that meeting, and usually he's not here. It was a good time to throw everything out on the table. There's still some communications issues. When Patrick Donahue, my team director, and I first started really working together we were really, really strong. It's not really a problem now, but when you're not running [well] bad communication always is something you look at first. Nobody wants to run bad and he has been frustrated that he's not giving me the right car and or he can't figure out what's wrong. As a driver I get frustrated. I can't either tell him what I'm feeling or I'm not describing it well enough so he can fix it or I'm not helping on the track. In any situation, whether it's Cup or Busch or any other form of racing, communication is key and we needed to get that back on track. It's like Ray was saying last week when he hired Elliott Sadler to replace Jeremy Mayfield in the No. 19 Cup car. People and communication are a much bigger deal in NASCAR today than just equipment. That's part of the reason Ray had so much success when he won three Cup titles as Jeff Gordon's crew chief. It's why Chad Knaus has so much success with Jimmie Johnson. It's why Greg Zipadelli has so much success with Tony Stewart. There's a reason why those people have all stuck together and had success. The crew chief really needs to be confident in what I'm doing, but also know what adjustments work well for me and what I'm describing. Each driver has a different way of describing things. Some drivers are sensitive to track bars. Some are sensitive to other things. That kind of relationship takes time to build. That's what makes Elliott Sadler's 10th-place finish last weekend at Michigan in his first race for Evernham Motorsports so impressive. I didn't know really what to expect. I knew Elliott has had success before and the team has had success before, but you never know how that relationship is going to go. It seemed the team's morale was really up. For whatever reason that 19 wasn't running well and something needed to change. Just to see the team's morale and attitude going into the race, it was just different. I was at the track all weekend, and to hear them on the radio and see the guys working together, I guess change was needed. It's kind of the same way with the truck. We started to get in a funk and all of a sudden you feel you have to change something. That's why we had the big meeting. I don't think it's to the point where we need to make a big adjustment, but it was time to sit down and get things on track. Now we go to Bristol, where you really don't have much control. It's going to be a challenge for me having never driven there before. You could go in there and have a great car or truck and have a terrible run because you get caught up in somebody else's mess. Or you could have a terrible car or truck and do well because you avoided trouble. It's kind of like a crap shoot. The best we can do is go there the best prepared possible. I've watched truck races there and I've played the video games and we've talked about the setups, the adjustments ... we've talked about everything we can. Having that meeting really got us focused on getting prepared. They say races are won at the shop and how much you come prepared. Who knows what the outcome will be, but I guarantee we'll go into this race more prepared than we have been. As told to David Newton, NASCAR.COM. | 
