Andretti

Well, I guess I've had my mini vacation and now it's time to get back into race mode for Chicago, Toronto and Cleveland over the next three weeks. Even though it's going to be really busy, this is a fun stretch of races -- and what a variety!

We start this weekend at Chicago Motor Speedway, which is a fast, one-mile oval and is also a home race for us of sorts since Motorola, Archipelago and Klein Tools are all based here. Chicago can be a really fun track to drive -- or if your car isn't working well, it can be awful!

I'm optimistic about Chicago though because we had a really good car at the Milwaukee oval a few weeks back, so I'm pretty certain we've got the basics right and should be good for Chicago. What I think is really key in Chicago is to get the car balanced and also to qualify well. Your starting position in Chicago will really determine the day for you because it can be tough to pass. So, as long as my engineer, Eddie Jones, and I are on the same page and get the car sensible, then I think we've got a good shot to do well in Chicago.

After Chicago, we go up to Toronto, Canada for our next race. It is totally different than Chicago. In Toronto, we run a 1.755-mile temporary street course in downtown Toronto, about as different from an oval as you can get. And for me, I love Toronto. It doesn't hurt that I've won more races in Toronto than I have at any other venue -- in fact, last year's win was number seven. I'm always asked what it is about Toronto, and why I win so often there and believe me, if I knew I'd duplicate it at every other track we race on!

But seriously, Toronto isn't any different for me than any other race. We prepare the same and race the same, but I just seem to have good breaks in Toronto, but I'm not complaining. In Toronto I think we'll be in good shape again. We won in Long Beach earlier this season and even though we were in the Reynard chassis, I think we still have a good idea of what we need to do with the Lola to do well. Plus, at a lot of street races it comes down to your strategy and I have to give credit to Kim Green, our general manager, and Tony Cotman, our team manager, because they've taken some educated gambles on our pit strategy that have really paid off. So this should be a really good weekend for Team Motorola.

To wrap up our three-week road trip we go to our third totally different track in as many weeks in Cleveland. Cleveland is really cool because we actually race on the runways of Burke Lakefront Airport around a 2.1-mile course. The track ends up being a modified street/road course and it can be great to drive, but it's tricky, too.

Cleveland can be tough because you end up letting your hair down a little bit and really getting on the throttle. Then the track suckers you in because you think you have a lot of room since the track and the entry to the corner are both so wide and then you get into the turn and -- BOOM! -- it's down to one-car width. If you miss that, it will definitely cost you, so you really have to be on your game at Cleveland. But I look forward to this race every year because it really is fun to drive.

Well, it's going to be a good couple of weeks. We've got three totally different tracks in three great cities. So I'm looking forward to having some fun and hopefully winning some races for Team Motorola.

Talk to you soon,

Michael

Michael Andretti, the driver of the No. 39 Motorola for Team Green, is providing a diary to ESPN.com throughout the CART season.