I am about to walk out the door and head to the airport and fly to Nashville, Tenn., but wanted to catch up with all of you first. We are Nashville bound this weekend and I am pretty pumped about it. I have never raced at the superspeedway, but I did race a couple years ago at the little speedway with the East Series and finished fourth.
I am flying into Nashville a day early for some media interviews and appearances. I always enjoy getting to know the local media who cover our sport. Wednesday night, I was on the CBS Sports Line with Hope Hines and Thursday we have a very busy day. We start out at Fox 17 in the morning and then move to the 104.5 The Zone studios for a radio interview. After that we are going to be on the Ricky and Bubba radio show and eat lunch with the local media.
Thursday night I am going to be at the Nashville Fan Fest so I would love for you to stop by and say hi. It starts at 5 p.m. CT and ends at 8 p.m. It is at the Camping World Store located near the Grand Old Opry.
If you are in town for the race be sure to stop by and see my Monster Energy Chevrolet show truck at two DAILY’S convenience stores and get a free Ricky Carmichael Monster Energy poster.
Speaking of Monster, they have a cool promotion going on right now at www.monsterenergy.com. You can register at the Web site for a chance to win two garage passes and two grandstand tickets to one of my races. On top of that, you get to meet me and my pit crew.
As you can tell, Nashville is going to be a busy weekend for us, but after such a great finish at Martinsville, I am so ready to head to the track. I will be honest, Martinsville could have been a big bullet for us. I finished 29th at the race last spring and wasn’t sure what to expect heading into this year’s race. I knew we would be better, but I also know how challenging Martinsville can be.
We struggled a little bit in practice, but were able to start 12th when rain Friday canceled qualifying. Track position is crucial at Martinsville so I was happy with a 12th starting spot. From the beginning of the race, my Monster Energy Chevy was running better than in practice. My goal was to stay out of trouble for the majority of the race and capitalize on a great finish at the end.
It didn’t really go as I planned. I was running just inside the top-10 when I got spun on Lap 145. Luckily, the damage was not too severe and we were able to continue. After that I was pretty mad because we lost all the track position we had gained during the race. The Monster Energy Chevy proved to still be strong and I was able to drive my way back to the 10th position.
To come out of Martinsville with a semi-wrecked truck and still finish in the 10th position — I was a happy camper.
I better get to the airport. Hope everyone has a Happy Easter this weekend.
Come see me in Nashville!
“Riding with Ricky” is a weekly feature posted at Nascar.com. If you are interested in keeping up with Ricky between the blogs, you can follow him through the social media world at Twitter and Facebook.
Keep that eagerness tucked AWAY IN YOUR BACK “POCKET” bring out that rocket, when it’s absolutely necisarry
Ricky, I live in Southern MD (Dunkirk) and have spent many years going to Budds Creek to watch you REEK HAVIC on John Beaselys Track. I’m going there this weekend w/ my dad again for The Fathers Day Race, its about our 8th or 10th consectitive year. You and your team have always kept us in the game, from bad starts, to wrecks, and coming from dead last to win the heats in the HOT Southern MD DRY HEAT, we have always enjoyed and charished this coming weekend. However, you, Bubba, and the great Jeff Ward who once raced circles around this track won’t be there. My DAD and I are still going, we will leave Dunkirk at about 0730 to get to a track thats about an hour away….jus so we can get descent parking. We will carry on the #4 Tradition and have a good time and remembering the good ol days when the BOOTH would say……RICKY CARMICHAEL WINS @ BUDDS CREAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was born in 78, and respect you and your career far more than what Bubba has ever done. Your career and Family are or should be apart of Bruce Springsteens Song……………..”Born in the USA”
Respectfully Submitted, Take Care,
David M. Finnegan, Crytsal (My Lovely Wife, Connor(4), Wyatt (2), and Cullen (at 8 months)
please let me know that you recieved this message
will there be any chance for autographs or any type of a meet and greet at pocono next week?
Ricky, coming at you from Wales in the United Kingdom!
I know nothing about Nascar and have only recently heard about your exploits in Motorcross as I finshed it as a kid (10) due to lack of money and it was too painful to follow the scene so I blanked it out. Sure you understand.
Anyway 20 years on and it comes back, so I google whose who and the word was you were known as the GOAT (greatest of all time) so I watch a few of your races and interviews and I was really impressed with you as a person and your riding.
I know nothing about Nascar, but I’ll definitely be following the scene a bit now that I know you’re involved.
Take care Ricky, your riding and persoanlity are still winning you fans from the other side of the world.
Stay safe, the world needs good people like you!