Chances are good that Jennifer Jo Cobb won't be taking much of a vacation when the season ends in November, since getting sponsorship money is paramount. Even when she does escape, she admits she can't seem to get away from work.

"I love to travel, I like to take trips," Cobb said. "But I'm the girl around the pool with the laptop. I wouldn't go on a cruise because it would take me away from the Internet. But that's all part of enjoying your life and doing what you love, mixing business and pleasure. I've got no problem working while on vacation, within reason."

“

I've had a lot of other owners, including Richard Childress, tell me that I've done a good job. So I think that they respect the smart attitude I take, rather than, 'Wow, that girl goes out every week and tears stuff up.'

”

-- JENNIFER JO COBB

Running her own truck team is certainly the best reason. Cobb purchased the Ford team from Tom Mitchell before the season, with the idea of making a go of it as the only full-time female owner/driver in any of NASCAR's major national series.

So with five races to go, how does she grade her team's performance this season?

"I tried not to have any kind of expectations for us, because we were all fresh and brand-new," Cobb said. "We knew it would be tough because we had a low budget, obviously. We're spending a fraction of what the other teams are. Wherever we were, I wanted to being to climb upward. So I think we started solidly in the top 25, respectable, not being in the way, not getting in trouble. And I think everyone respected that.

"And then we started climbing into the top 20 and had some top-15s, which is exactly the direction I wanted to go. But we stagnated and now I just feel like we're slipping a bit. Something is amiss."

The high-water mark for Cobb's team may have come with a 14th-place finish at Darlington. But since then, the No. 10 Ford has failed to crack the top 20, with finishes of 22nd, 23rd, 22nd and 21st. Cobb readily admits she is a positive person, but there is a bit of frustration building.

"But what are you going to do? Beat yourself up? Beat your team up? " Cobb said. "Instead, I look around at the teams not making it, not running every week, having to start and park or disappearing all together and my feeling is the same as it started this year, which is of gratitude.

"I'm grateful that we're here, and it says a lot about us to be able to come out here, be here and not miss a race, run steadily and consistently all year long on a fraction of what the other teams are doing."

But there's the catch. Even though Cobb's team has limited sponsorship and has been watching its pennies, unexpected budget items continually crop up.

"[There are] expenses that I hadn't totally thought about," Cobb said. "Some of this was done on a leap of faith. We didn't have a bar because we didn't have anyone running a team the way we're running it. So we have saved a ton of money, but it's still so much more expensive than you can ever imagine. (Continued)