Hey everybody. I’m not sure if you saw the news, but David Stremme is going to substitute drive the Ergon Racing Toyota at Nashville and Bristol. I won’t lie, you never want to sit on the sideline, but it’s for the best of Ergon and I’m committed to doing whatever I can to make this program a success.

The Ergon Racing team is top notch, and I really think we are one of the best in the Craftsman Truck Series. We have a ton of potential and want to be finishing better than we have been. The aim is getting top-fives and top-10s each week, but for some reason, we’ve come up a little short. No one’s quite sure why, but we know the No. 15 team and Ergon all deserve better performances than that. Me, Ergon and Billy Ballew all agree that we need to switch up a few variables and see what we can improve on.

We think that bringing Stremme in will give us an outside perspective on our program. He’s got a lot of experience and I can learn a lot from him. The idea is to have a veteran give the team some advice on what we can do better and mentor me along the way. I’m going to work closely with him over the next few weeks. I want to see how he communicates with the crew chief and how he reports on the truck’s handling. I’m going to pay close attention to his driving style and see how he tackles the tracks we’re at. Hopefully he can fill in some of the gaps that are keeping us from finishing up front.

I appreciate everyone’s support this season. Like I said, I hate not being in the seat, but I know this is what will make us stronger in the long run. And if it’s good for Ergon and Billy Ballew Motorsports, then I’m on board. Don’t worry, you haven’t seen the last of me. I’ll be back before you know it, hopefully on the way to Victory Lane.

Bluegrass Bound

Hey ya'll. We've had a couple of weeks off since Memphis, but we're heading to Kentucky this Saturday for the Built Ford Tough 250. It was a nice break; now it's time to go racing!
If you take a look at who's won at Kentucky, it is a mixed bag of results. In the Nationwide Series, it's been first-time winners the past few years. Kentucky Speedway has put a few Nationwide drivers on the map - young guns like Joey Logano, Stephen Leicht and David Gilliand all got their first win at Kentucky. But in the Truck Series, it's been the veterans that shined. Skinner, Hornaday, Setzer and Hamilton have all taken the checkers. I'm hoping to take a cue from the Nationwide guys and buck the Truck Series trend. And the way we've been running at the mile-and-a-half tracks, it's not out of reach. The Ergon Racing team has had some great runs on the intermediate speedways. We usually run in the top-five at 1.5 mile tracks, and that's what it takes to win races. We got our best finish of the season at Texas, so I'm excited about this weekend. This should be a great event for us.
Another thing about Kentucky, they've never had a repeat winner in the Truck Series. They've raced there since 2000, and no one has been to Victory Lane twice. That just goes to show how competitive the series is. It also means that it can be anyone's week.
I'm not sure if ya'll read about it, but NASCAR Technical Director Steve Peterson died this week. He was responsible for instituting some of NASCAR's biggest advances in safety - SAFER barriers,improved seat belts and neck restraints among others. I didn't know him very well, but I definitley appreciate all he did for our sport. His legacy will always remain in racing. He was really young, only 58 years old, so please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers this week.
Have a great week everybody and tune into SPEED this Saturday night to watch the race!
Thanks,
Marc

Hey everybody. Hope you had a great Independence Day. I didn't do too much. I spent the holiday with some friends and family. I had a little free time that I used to work on my late model car. I put a new front-end on it and I can't wait to put it to the test. Hopefully it'll burn up the short tracks around Georgia.
The last truck race I was in was Memphis. It was a disappointing day. We blew a tire in the first few laps and never could get back on the lead lap. Everyone was beating and banging on each other all day and never had any problems, and we get brushed by another truck and it blows our tire. I guess those are the breaks. It was a fast truck, though. We kept pace with the leaders all race long and would have scored a top-10 had we not run into trouble.
We'll go to Kentucky in a week. That's going to be an awesome race. We're bringing chassis # 22, which was the truck that run so well at Michigan. I love the way that truck drives. It seems to be a good fit with the intermediate tracks, so we should have a good day in the Bluegrass State.
Did ya'll see the Daytona Cup race? Talk about a crazy finish. That just shows that you never know what's going to happen at the superspeedways. You better believe when we head to Talladgega later this year, it's going to be wild one, too.
I'll talk to you soon. Have a great week.
Later,
Marc