I just returned from a weekend of racing in Queensland and have returned to Sydney for my final week of racing in Australia.
As a racer, living a normal lifestyle isn’t an option. I guess I don’t know any better, but I haven’t been home on Christmas Day for about eight years. I left Fargo Dec. 23 and have been racing here since.
Boxing Day (Dec. 26) is one of the biggest days of the year for racing here in Australia, and I’ve been doing this for so long it’s just what I do. It always sounds good in August, but when you have to get on that plane in December it’s tough. When you make a commitment, you’ve got to follow through.
Before I left, I was very surprised to be named the Economaki Champion of Champions at the PRI show. I’ve got to thank everyone at the publication for their recognition and Jack Day and the folks from Rockett Brand Racing Fuels for sponsoring the award.
It’s quite an accomplishment for everyone who surrounds me. You don’t ever expect to be in the running for that type of award. The honor is one of the biggest I’ve received in my career and being there on the stage at the PRI Show to accept it was an unbelievable feeling.
It’s been a good trip over here this time after having some bad luck in November. I came over to race in four World Series events on the West Coast right after we finished the Outlaws season and crashed twice in three nights. It was just a matter of being in the wrong place at the right time. 
That’s just how it goes and if I got that out of my system for the year, then so be it. We still had fun over there and got to put on a good show for the fans. I felt bad that we didn’t get to race a little more over there, but things here in Sydney at Parramatta have been going well.
Every race is one that you want to win, but there are few that pay a little more. Those are the ones that keep you going and keep the bills paid. I can’t say that I do anything different for the $50,000-to-win race. We’ve been fortunate to win it five times now, but there are a lot of great drivers out there who have won races more than we have, so we have to keep going after it.
The money is great, but I don’t think there is any question that we would have been there without the money, too. We just want to go race, and then after some time, you can look back and enjoy what you accomplished and think about what you need to do to win it again.
Last weekend, we jumped in a plane and flew up to Brisbane...kind of like flying from Minneapolis to Chicago...for a special $20,000-to-win race. I hadn’t been to Brisbane for several years and when they asked us to come up, Garry (Rush, team owner) decided we’d go. 
The first night was a bit off for us and we came home 11th after playing around with a few things. Everything that we learned on Friday night won us the race on Saturday night. It was pretty exciting to be able to run 50 laps, which I don’t get to do very often, and I really enjoyed it.
We’ve got one more week of racing here with the annual Outlaws Down Under event.  Parramatta has been very good to me.
When the checkered flag falls on Saturday, all of our focus turns to getting back to the United States. I probably won’t be able to make it to the airport fast enough to get out Saturday because there are only two flights to Los Angeles, but we’ll jump on the big plane Sunday and start making our way back.
It’ll be nice to be home to get refreshed and ready to head to Florida.
All the guys at Tony Stewart Racing are working hard to have us ready to go in Florida. I’ve seen pictures of their progress and they are well ahead of the game. I think everyone is pumped up and motivated to come out of the box strong with a couple of wins and ultimately another winning season. 
We’ll be in Florida before you know it.