David Vaughn Photo

The week before the Kentucky race, I was still in Milwaukee spending time with my family for July 4 enjoying the home town parade, the fireworks and all of the fun surrounding the holiday. I flew out for the race weekend on Thursday morning to visit TMMK (Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky) in Georgetown. Our team had a show truck at the plant and Mike and I were given the opportunity to take a tour to see how Toyota builds the Solara, the Avalon and the Camry. It was pretty neat to see the manufacturing process.

The plant was huge, somewhere near 172 acres under one roof. The coolest thing that we were able to do was meet with the plant employees and talk to them about Toyota racing and having the Toyota Tundra in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. We gave out team t-shirts and hats and enjoyed signing autographs and eating ice cream with many of the team members.

After the appearance, Mike and I raced to Florence, Kentucky, to be able to participate in the annual Craftsman Truck Series Drivers vs. SPEED Channel softball game. Even though I hit two balls right out to center field and never got a chance to run any bases, it was really cool to have the chance to do something different with our fellow competitors rather than just racing on the track. Everyone left there with a smile which you don't see that after every race. Having fun with everyone is what it's really all about.

That evening I checked into our casino hotel for the weekend and did a little gambling. I lost a little money playing blackjack but got back to even and watched my teammates loose even more playing craps. After a night of bad fortune, I was just hoping we'd be better on the track. But no such luck.

The next morning, the team woke up to what looked like would be a promising day. The ARCA cars were out on the track practicing, and it looked like we were going to get a normal race weekend in with qualifying and practice. But just before our practice began, the clouds rolled in and the rain came with them. So we were never able to get on the track for practice. NASCAR finally decided to cancel all activities for the entire day due to severe weather and possible tornado warnings and lined up the field for the second week in a row on owner's points. That put me in eighth position which wasn't bad, but I would've definitely liked to have a shot at the pole or at least something in the top-three. Everyone returned to the casino for a team dinner, and I decided to try my hand again at blackjack. After an hour or so, I decided to call it a night early and met up with my wife and children who drove in for the race.

The next morning, NASCAR reset practice which is always interesting practicing and racing on the same day. Even though it always makes for a long day, I was anxious to get on the track and start working with my former crew chief Eric Phillips, my truck chief, Rodney McGehee, and the rest of my old Line-X crew to make sure we had our communication where we needed it to be for the race. Practice went well and we had a top-10 truck, but we never really found the speed that we wanted. So we sat down with Mike and his team and compared notes in preparation for the race.

David Vaughn Photo

Going into the race, I was feeling really good about starting in eighth place. My truck was pretty loose getting into turn three in the beginning right after the green flag, and during the first stop we made some adjustments to tighten it up. Thanks to a fast pit stop from my crew, I moved up to fourth. Unfortunately, the adjustments didn't do too much to help the handling, but I had a chance for a long run and was able to pick up some more spots. During the second stop, the crew made more adjustments to tighten up my truck, because I was fighting the same condition as I was early in the race. I came in for wedge adjustments on both rear corners of the truck and got out fast again. Thankfully, the wedge adjustments really helped out a lot for the last run and I continued to pick up spots and get back inside the top-10. But my luck ran out when a couple of cautions came out in the last ten laps of the race, and I realized that I had lost third gear in the transmission which is very unusual at a track like Kentucky.

On the two restarts at the end of the race, I was basically a sitting duck since I couldn't get up to speed as fast as the other trucks. My spotter talked to the other spotters whose trucks were behind me, so they would not get into the back of us. He told everyone around us that once I took the green flag, I would move to the bottom of the track and let everyone pass me on the outside and then get back into line when I got back up to speed.

Unfortunately, instead of just one caution, there were two and I ended up losing seven spots after it was all said and done.  

Overall, the whole weekend was OK, but I definitely wasn't satisfied with our performance. We worked hard during practice to make our truck one that could've finished in the top-five. But because of the transmission problems, I ended up in 15th and was really fortunate to not end up any further back in the pack.

I am really optimistic about going to St. Louis in part because it is one of my favorite tracks that the series goes to. I've been there many times in several other different series including what is now the NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Midwest Series. I'm hoping to have a repeat performance and capture the pole again this year. The team's more than ready to get rid of some of the bad luck we've had this year and get back in the top-five where we belong.

- Travis Kvapil, Diary of a Champion

2003 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion
2001 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Rookie of the Year