With the types of race cars I've driven before, you can run them into the corners pretty hard. In a stock car you've got to keep the car underneath you -- that means floating the car in the corner and not getting the car bound up. You've got to float the car around the corner, which is totally opposite of what I'm used to doing to make the car go fast.

This is only my second year in stock car racing so I don't have the luxury of having all the years in the Late Models, the Winston West series, and the truck series like some of these guys do. So I've had to adapt my driving style.

Right now, I'm doing what it takes to get one of these cars around the track but I still need to work at it. A lot of times I still show up at a short track and spend five or six laps on the track overdriving it until I figure the track out and then I back off.

It's tough but the more laps you get to run, the better you figure it out.

During qualifying on Friday at Richmond, I got loose coming off turn four and backed it into the fence. I didn't finish my qualifying run and took a provisional to start the race in 42nd position. We had to get our backup car out for the final practice that evening.

The backup car was prepared very well, but it still took a lot of work by the crew to get it ready to race. When I got out there for the final practice it felt just as good as my primary car, so I was confident we would have a good run Saturday night.

We started the Chevrolet Monte Carlo 400 in 42nd position. Early in the race we were tight in the center and loose off. The crew worked on the car during the first few pit stops and after about 150 laps the car started to feel real good. Late in the race, I got into the wall a little on the front stretch and we had to make a few more adjustments to get the car to run well.

Overall, the day could have been a lot better but the guys did a really good job in the pits. We finished in 28th place, which isn't bad, but I was hoping for a top-25.