Career-best finish at AMS just part of very good week

The last few days I feel like I've been going in circles. No, I haven't lost my mind and I do remember that I still drive a race truck. It started back the weekend before last. I flew to North Carolina to meet with the team and have my seats refitted. The next day I drove to Atlanta with my crew chief for the AMA Monster Energy Supercross event at the Georgia Dome.

Being there was just like old times. I commentated the main events for SPEED that evening, but during the day I had a little fun. The Atlanta race has always been considered my home race because it is only a few hours from Tallahassee (Fla.) and I try to ride opening ceremonies to thank the fans for their support when I can. I think I shocked everyone when I rode the first practice earlier that afternoon.

It was great to hear the fans erupt into a roar when I walked out of the pits in my gear and ready to ride. I think a lot of fans thought I was making a comeback! After the SX event, I drove home and spent the afternoon with my kids before filming Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain later that night. I am a big fan of Wind Tunnel because it covers all forms of racing and Dave's always been real cool to me when we have done interviews in the past.

The next two days I spent riding at my farm for a Fox Racing photo shoot and putting the finishing touches on the Supercross track I designed for the Daytona race that weekend. I headed to Daytona on Thursday to walk the track and make any last-minute changes before flying back to Atlanta for the Truck race.

It was a great race for my Monster Energy Racing Team. We unloaded pretty quick and remained in the top 10 during both practice sessions. We qualified 12th and I'll admit that I was disappointed with that. I thought we would be a little faster, but it didn't hold us back. I love racing at Atlanta because you can run the high lane or the low lane. If your truck is not handling the way you would like you can move around the track to find another line. A lot of tracks you can't do that.

It proved to be my best track so far. I scored my career-best Truck finish with sixth place. It was great motivation for me and this team heading into Martinsville in a couple of weeks. It really shows how hard our new team is working and I can't say enough about the guys back at the shop making it happen.

After the Atlanta race I hopped on a plane with Kevin Harvick and flew to Daytona for the Supercross event. Ken Schrader and Trevor Bayne were also there. It's always fun for me having new people at the races. I really enjoy showing our sport to new people. Once again I commentated the race for SPEED. It was a great ending to a busy day.

I had to be back at Daytona early the next morning for opening ceremonies for the inaugural Ricky Carmichael Amateur Supercross event. It was the first time Daytona had an amateur Supercross race in 22 years. It was a huge honor and I had a great day watching lots of upcoming talent. I guess you can say I have come full circle having an event named after me.

Ricky Carmichael had a high-flying week in Daytona and Atlanta.

I have to give a big thanks to MX Sports and Daytona International Speedway for helping to make it happen. This was an idea we had talked about for a while and now that it was finally coming true I still found it hard to believe. The turnout was awesome, almost 800 riders! I was really happy to see how the track turned out and hearing from all the riders and families how much fun they were having. It is really gratifying to see something you and so many people work so hard on finally come together. But the trip wasn't over yet.

Monday was a huge day for me. I hosted the first Ricky Carmichael University riding school at Daytona. It was the first time I ever put on a riding school and to have it at Daytona made it even more special. We had 100 riders attend including two special students, SPEED's Rutledge Wood and Kyle Petty. Once again I couldn't have pulled it off without a lot of help, especially my guest instructors -- Jeff Stanton, Jeff Emig, Clark Stiles, and my mom. We all had a great time working with the riders from our youngest 50cc riders to some of our 50-plus-year-old vets who attended. We also had classroom instructors for the families on bike setup, nutrition, safety equipment and getting a good education.

As for Kyle and Rut, I was really surprised how well they did. They didn't just come for Speed TV they came to learn and for never being on a Supercross track before they did a great job! Look for the report on the setup before the Martinsville race.

The goal of the entire weekend was for everyone to have fun. I stressed that in our riders' meetings and from the smiles on everyone's faces at the end of each day I think we accomplished our goal and along the way, I think we helped make our riders better while giving back to the sport that gave me so much!

Check my Web site for some behind the scene photos from the weekend.

If you are interested in keeping up with Ricky between the blogs you can follow him through the social media world -- www.twitter.com/rickycarmichael and www.facebook.com/rickycarmichaeracing, or his Web site www.rickycarmichael.com.