Great race you ran last Wednesday Nathan! You were patiently running in the middle of the pack most of the night, and then poured on the heat when it counted! Were you expecting to do that well at Pocono?

-- Absolutely not. Check my pre-race times. I wasn’t that good at Monday’s practice, my Wednesday practice hotlap was outside the top ten and I qualified 12^th. But I found out during the race that my lap times held steady or improved over long green flag runs (which is a very unusual situation - especially for me.) When I realized I had a car that could handle longer runs it gave me more confidence to drive a little harder in the last segment of the race.

You have had a great season so far. Three top 5’s and 10 top 10’s! You have been running very close with John Hayes for the Rookie of the Year points… AND you are in position to battle for the Championship! Have you been pleased with your performance this far?

-- Yes and no. It’s hard to say I’m pleased with my results so far. Prior to Pocono I had three consecutive 8^th place finishes so that was frustrating. But the thing I’m most pleased about is the improvement I’ve seen in my own racing. I racked up 85 penalty points in just the first three races and quickly learned that losing 20 penalty points for one incident is like losing 5 (or so) positions on the track. So there’s a great incentive to race clean. And since Martinsville I haven’t had any penalties so I view that as a positive step.

Did you have to adjust your car all through the race at Pocono, or did you just get settled in and wait till your chance to make a run at the end?

-- I made no changes to my car during the race. Once we got spread out at the beginning I checked the ‘F2 - Space’ screen and noticed that, although I was 6 seconds or so behind the leader, I wasn’t losing ground - either keeping steady or gaining. So I reasoned that if I could just stay out of trouble I might have a chance for a good finish.

What do you think you will need to do to put your car in Victory Circle soon?

-- More practice, a great setup (like I had at Pocono), and a little bit of luck. Like most NASCAR drivers I always feel I can win every time I get on the track. But there are so many consistently good drivers in SORS-East it would probably take some kind of crazy fluke like a massive wreck at the end or a short-pitting miracle for me to win in this league. But that’s a good thing for me. It’s a great challenge for me to race against superior drivers.

Great run Wednesday, and I am sure you will be in the hunt again next week at Michigan. Any last comments you would like to make?

--Thanks to those SORS drivers who have offered to assist me in setting up cars! It’s a great help to someone like me who’s mechanically challenged.