Life's none too easy along latitude 43 these days -- just ask a guy who's parlayed homes in two distinctly different New England states, along the same map coordinate -- into the titles of his equally distinct pair of businesses.

New Englander Bill Jenkins, a soap vendor and NASCAR race team owner, tried to fly home to Maine from Monday's rain-delayed Cup Series event at Martinsville -- not to his other home, a good bit further inland and on that latitude line to the west, in Vermont.

“

We have the ability that is rather unique, that from a competition standpoint we can use whoever will be the best for where we are. I'm thrilled to have either David or Boris in the car -- and those are team decisions that we'll make based on what's going to make us the most competitive.

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-- BILL JENKINS

But New England in general and the Portland, Maine, area specifically got drenched earlier this week and East Coast travel was badly affected.

At Martinsville, Jenkins told the tale of how his homes' location had led to his soap business being titled Latitude 43. Last fall, when he decided to chase a dream and go Cup racing, you'd guess it figured Latitude 43 Motorsports would be the team's title -- though Jenkins took great pains to stress the two companies are independent and unrelated.

And in the aftermath of a rough day on the often-brutal Martinsville short track, you couldn't help but think Jenkins' 12-plus hour adventure Tuesday, including changed and canceled flights and airport delays in a nightmarish multi-itinerary day, could be compared to the first six months of his equally circuitous adventure as a Cup Series owner.

But just like reaching home Tuesday at mid-evening, Jenkins says he's seeing bright spots in racing as well. His optimism comes despite a DNF at Martinsville due to "rear gear failure" and a 37th-place finish for driver David Stremme, who a week earlier had stepped into the car in place of Boris Said, due to the veteran Stremme's greater short track experience.

At Bristol, Stremme responded with the car's best 2010 finish, 24th, but the team still fell out of the top 35 in owners' points. After Martinsville, the car is tied for 37th in owners' points, but only 66 points out of 35th.

"Even with what was not a good result, what I took away from Martinsville was that we had the nucleus of a great team," Jenkins said. "At the start of the race, we were competitive, and then things stacked-up and David ran into the back of Paul Menard -- nothing he could do."

In Jenkins' mind, what his team could then do was make a choice -- give up, or make their best effort to get Stremme back on track. Even with all the uncertainty the team faces in the short run, that response was a big deal -- and Jenkins doesn't have to be new to the sport to recognize that.

"Nobody put their heads down, they took the car into the garage, fixed it and got it back into the race, and when they did David was within 100ths of a second of some of the faster cars on the track," Jenkins said. "Nobody got down, these young guys showed some real character and if we can keep it together, this'll be something I'll be really proud of." (Continued)