Martinsville, VA

Holy HANS devices, it was cold. Not the fun get out the snow gear kind of day, but a bone-chilling,damp cold. The South is not supposed to be this cold - and we are technically in the South, right?

Well, I managed to catch Chrissy's qualifying, but opted to spend most of the day in cousin Mike's motocoach playing NASCAR 08. I hooked up the steering wheel and spent a good chunk of the day trading paint in the Busch Series (they haven't changed it to Nationwide yet, and the drivers are still with their old teams from last year). Lauren Wallace is 2nd place, behind stupid Carl Edwards, in the series and just bought his first Truck Series team in Career Mode. He also recently turned down an offer to drive in the Nextel Series, because it was for some team with a number like 185 or something like that. I told my agent to tell them to come back when they get a real offer.

And when Lauren Wallace plays his NASCAR video games, he doesn't baby it up by playing races at 8% distance, with unlimited tires, fuel and no damage on. He plays at 50% distance, with normal tire and fuel usage as well as full damage with yellow flags. Lauren Wallace keeps it real on the race track, even if it is just a video game.

After that no-goodnic Kevin Harvick spun me out on the final lap to win at the Milwaukee Mile - Lauren Wallace finished 11th. I had to step out and grab a couple Martinsville dogs before taking my spot on the pit box. It was actually kind of nice because cousin Mike was freezing his spark plugs off up with the spotters while he was spotting the race for Chrissy.

Chrissy did great for her first time out there. She started 35th (out of 36 trucks) and finished 18th. It was pretty conservative, but she got into a few scraps, as any good Martinsville racer will, and managed to assert herself as a respectable Truck Series driver.

But Lauren Wallace wouldn't have taken it so easily. A few times, Chrissy let up even though she probably had position. Lauren Wallace would have drove the nose in and kept his position, and if the other guy tried to slam the door, then Lauren Wallace would have put him into the wall - because that is what he does.

After the race, I was walking back to the motorcoach and saw Kevin and Delana Harvick walking back from their garage area to the motorcoaches as well. As they passed me, I told Kevin "The first chance I get, I'm putting you straight into the wall, Happy. And you know you got it comin'!" He just looked at me real confused like he had no idea what I was talking about.

Well, I gotta find some hot chocolate or something. It is too dang cold around here. Chrissy's next race isn't for another month in Kansas City, but the big boys are in Texas next week; where the moon at night, is big and bright [clap clap clap clap] Deep in the heart of Texas!