Paulie's Blog: Iowa event caps exciting weekend (cont'd)

Ultimately, we made some significant changes to the car as soon as we got to the track in the morning. They paid off, as the car was much better at the start of this session than it ever was in the last. From there, we made a number of other changes, none of which did what we were looking for. Most of them helped in some very small way, but we still needed a significant gain in the center of the corner. We also did a mock qualifying run, where we put on new tires and put tape over the grill opening on the nose (creates more downforce, but doesn't allow the engine to cool as well). When we did that, the car turned better in the center, but was way too loose off the corners.

At the end of the session, we made one more change and got ready for qualifying. I was one of the last cars to qualify, so I watched the first half of the session from on top of our hauler, picking up bits and pieces of information from watching other cars. When I finally did head out, the car was still too loose off. I got pretty sideways coming off Turn 2 on the second lap and we ended up qualifying 23rd. It definitely wasn't what we were looking for.

This race was an impound race, meaning that the cars have to stay on pit lane before they go to the grid and that the teams cannot make many changes. NASCAR allows us to make very few changes before the race, but Duane and I took advantage of all of them. We made pretty significant adjustments, all of which made logical sense but were untested. From there, it was off to an autograph signing. The fans at Iowa Speedway were some of the most excited and enthusiastic I've ever seen, making the session a ton of fun!

About the time that driver introductions began, the rain started to fall. After an hour and a half of rain delay, the NASCAR officials instructed us to strap in. As soon as the green flag flew, we started marching toward the front. By Lap 17, we were up to 17th position. I was steadily giving Duane feedback over the radio and Bill McAnally, who was spotting for me since my normal spotter was changing tires, was going a great job of helping me through traffic. The car was turning better than it had all weekend.

After a caution on Lap 34, the field was bunched back up. This really helped us, as we had lost some ground on the cars ahead as we moved through traffic. After we went back to green, we again began moving forward. After fighting Matt Kobyluck, the 2008 East Series Champion, for about 10 laps we were up to 14th on Lap 57. From there, pit stops cycled through, as a number of teams were on different strategies. We were able to pass cars each time we went back green. After everyone had stopped for tires and again for fuel, we were 10th when the green flag flew on Lap 122.

During each pit stop, Duane made small changes based on my feedback. Since this was only my second time on a track this big (Phoenix being the first), and since Iowa is much more aero-sensitive than Phoenix, I was learning a tremendous amount about how much cars can affect each other. One of our biggest problems was that we would get too "aero tight" when I got behind another car, meaning that the car pushed without the downforce on the nose. Duane's adjustments helped that a great deal, but we were still tight in traffic.

We continued to move forward and, after passing Jesus Hernandez and Mike David, were sixth by Lap 138. I then set my sights on Jason Bowles, who was visibly pretty tight. It took me about seven laps to run him down and another two to get alongside of him. However, I lost the air off of the spoiler off of Turn 4 and got the car really sideways. I was able to save it, but lost a lot of ground. I ran down Bowles again, this time understanding the aero game just a little better, and was around him by Lap 158.

From there, I set my sights on the No. 44 car of Brett Moffitt. A caution on Lap 177 bunched up the field. When we went green on Lap 184, I didn't get a particularly good restart and Moffitt pulled about two car lengths on me. From there, I had to work hard to get back to his bumper. I was close enough to him that my car would get aero tight, but not close enough to get him a little aero loose (taking the air off of his spoiler). I was finally able to get to him by Lap 190 and pass him by Lap 193. From there, I set my sights on the top three, hoping to be able to reel them in. Jeffrey Earnhardt got to my bumper and got me just loose enough that he could get inside of me with a lap and a half to go and was able to beat me to the finish by a nose.

Leaving Iowa with a fifth-place finish, which made us the second-highest finishing West car, made for a great weekend for our NAPA AutoCare team. We learned a great deal and were able to benefit from some awesome calls in the pits.

Paulie Harraka, a native of Fairlawn, N.J., is a student at Duke University. He is a member of the Drive for Diversity program and races in the Camping World West Series for Bill McAnally Racing. Harraka won the 2008 track championship at All American Speedway.