It would have been hard to imagine that when I started sending columns to this publication five years ago talking about my experiences racing around Australia that I’d ever be standing where I am today.
I know it’s close to the end of the racing season, and actually, I wish we had another two months of races with the way this race team is performing. It’s been a long season, and hopefully, we can be celebrating a championship in a few weeks.
I’ve learned a lot in the past five years and after things that happened in 2006, I understand my job is more than just sitting behind the wheel of a race car. Don’t get me wrong, 95 percent of my job is making good laps, finding out how to make my car faster and getting to the checkered flag first. 
The other five percent can be a bit overwhelming, but with the right people around you it can be pretty fun.
So much has happened since the announcement at the Knoxville Nationals that I will be joining Tony Stewart Racing next year. It’s an unbelievable opportunity, but one that I spent quite a bit of time thinking over.  
The first big thing was considering leaving the only team I’ve ever known — the one my parents built from the ground up. The same people that helped an 18-year-old live his dream and go out on the road with the World of Outlaws in 1997. The two people that continued to believe that one day we’d be able to reach the top and enjoy the blood, sweat and tears it took to get there.  It was those two people that were behind me and said that this was a chance of a lifetime to follow.
Spending the better part of two months deflecting the questions was kind of fun, as it seemed everyone wanted to be the one to officially break the story. When it was decided during Saturday afternoon at the Nationals to make it official, I thought it was the right time.
The past couple of months the people at TSR have been finalizing the sponsors on the car, and Friday we had the chance to show the world the awesome new-look No. 15 that I’ll be driving in 2008.
The event might have taken a little more than five percent of my focus as it was a tight schedule with the announcement in Charlotte late Friday afternoon and me racing in California on Saturday. 
As many of you know, I’m a pilot, and my family has a plane that we use to get to most of the races —meaning we can usually make our own schedule. For this trip I was just like everyone else trying to find a commercial flight out on Friday night and hoping there were no delays, flight cancellations, etc. We still have a championship to worry about.
I left Fargo on Thursday afternoon and Bill (Klingbeil) picked me up at the airport around 9 p.m. in Charlotte, and we had a late dinner to get us ready for a long day. 
The trip to the race track in Charlotte always amazes me because you get off Interstate 85 and see the big Bass Pro Shop Outdoor World on one side and the other side, which used to be an empty field, now is full of commercial development. We get up to the speedway and you see all the Cup guy’s merchandise units and then vendors of stuff that you’ve never even heard of — a pretty awesome site.
We go to get our credentials and, of course, when your name is listed under Tony Stewart, everyone’s got a story to tell you. “You tell Tony, I said hello.” We must have heard that five times before we got parked inside the track.
The time was about 10 minutes to 11 and all the Busch crew guys were standing outside the gate to get in. It’s amazing how everything works by the book down there.
Seeing some faces that were once on the road with the Outlaws was pretty cool. I thought it was interesting that the crew guys fire the car, get it turned around and ready and then the Cup drivers all come in at once, walk to the car, jump in and head out onto the track.
By 3 p.m., it was time to start focusing on our news conference. We helped Nelson (Stewart) get the car into the room next to Tony’s Armor All No. 20 that he’ll race at Daytona.  It’s fun to go outside the box and represent your sport to new people. These people seemed to really enjoy seeing something different. We talked quite a bit with all the key people from Armor All and got to see how excited they are about being able to race with the World of Outlaws and hit all the grassroots markets.
By 4:45 p.m., I was sharing the stage with Tony and Jon Balousek from Armor All. Seeing a room full of reporters and cameras flashing didn’t bother me — I guess all those trips to the media room at the Nationals paid off. 
By 5:30, we had made the announcement and taken numerous photos with the car that does include ParkerStore. They are continuing to work with me and I can’t thank them enough for the eight-year relationship we’ve had. It was time to go. We shook hands and said our goodbyes as the mindset changed to getting to the airport and making sure I was in California for Saturday night’s race. We made it with no problems.
After a long cross-continent flight, I made it to Los Angeles and rode to Tulare with Ron Shaver. When I got to the track, it was back to chasing the dream and we were able to win our third feature in a row and 19th of the season.
We’ve only got four more nights of racing, and I hope we win every one of them. I hope I’m still writing this column five years from now — I wonder where I’ll be standing then?