We fell victim to a blown engine on lap 132 that resulted in a 34th-place finish last weekend in Charlotte. The unexpected problem came just as we were positioning ourselves for our best ever finish at the Lowe's Motor Speedway.

I was running with a group of strong cars that were racing for position. I was 12th at the time and all of a sudden the engine just let go. No warning, no notice, just all of a sudden. Ruined our day, that's for sure. NASCAR set the starting lineup based on owner points because qualifying was rained out. Therefore, we started the race in the 17th position.

	Jay Sauter was on his way to a strong finish at Charlotte.

With the starting lineup mixing both the faster cars and the slower cars, the early stages of the race would be very crucial. Once the field would get settled in, then we could work on our race strategy.

Two early cautions kept the field tightly bunched. We maintained our position during the first 30 laps.

We made our first pit stop on lap 48 while running in 16th. The Quality Farm Stores pit crew did a great job to me back on track and maintain our position. The car was pretty tight off the turns, so Gene (Nead, crew chief) ordered a chassis adjustment during the stop.

Over the next race segment, I was able to avoid a potential problem when I dodged debris from some wrecked cars on the track. Fortunately, no damage was done to the Quality Farm Stores Chevy and we were able to continue without incident.

During the next green flag segment of the race, we ran a competitive pace. I spent the next 30 laps working my way up in the running order.

Two cautions slowed the action during the midway portion of the race. The car was getting better as the race went on.

On lap 125, we had worked our way to the 12th position. We were turning in some of our best lap times of the day. Then, it all came to a quick end on lap 132.

The car was the best it had been all day just as the engine let go. Gene and the Quality Farm Stores guys kept working on the car during each pit stop and the car kept getting better and better. We had worked ourselves into a good position running with that pack of cars all challenging for the top ten. I really felt good about our chances as the race wore on. I believe that I would have been in the hunt at the end, but we ran into the engine problem. I was hoping to reward the team with a strong finish.

The 34th-place finish dropped us two positions in the overall point standings to 17th.

The next event is at Dover Downs on June 2.

Dover is a track that I really enjoy racing. Last year were my only two races at Dover, but I learned that you race the track here just as much as you race the competition. Last fall, I qualified fifth and was looking good for the race until I had ignition problems. This year, racing at Dover should be very interesting with the new tires and more horsepower in the Busch cars. Dover is an action track, that's for sure.

Jay Sauter drives the No. 43 car in the NASCAR Busch Series Grand National Division and will be submitting a weekly diary to ESPN.com throughout the season.