Friday 2nd May 2008, NBS, Circuit City 250, Richmond International Raceway, race, round 11/35, 62 lapsSo Douglas had missed qualifying for this race, but Douglas was comfortable with that decision. He had qualified on pole in his Whelen Modifieds event, then gone on to win the race on the same day and take a slim lead of that particular championship, so it was worth it. Now, he had to race from the back (43rd place) here. It actually proved to be a good first half of the race for Douglas. By lap 27, Douglas had gone from 43rd and last to 2nd, and actually took the lead on lap 30! It wasn't clean all the way though, there had been two caution periods after Douglas had ended up sideways after receiving taps, but had not felt the need to pit after either occasion, having taken the low line round the track as much as possible. All this despite a handling imbalance that kept pulling the car to the right in a straight line, meaning Douglas was constantly having to correctively steer to the left... Douglas ended up halfway on fuel on lap 29, and the tyres were no longer at their peak as he took the lead, so he pitted at the end of lap 32, having shown that he could fight through the field. He hoped to come out of the pits in clean air so he could maximise the advantage of fresh tyres, but also knowing that he could fight here for position. No such luck on coming out on a clear track. Douglas came out towards the rear of the pack, a lap down, and got sideways towards the end of the lap. Douglas used that yellow-flag period to pit for further repairs, just to make sure the car was good for the rest of the race, and to make sure he was at the back of the pack on the restart. Douglas didn't know whether anybody else would need to pit, based on his own fuel mileage and the number of yellows, so he started to fight through the field once again. He got to about 36th when everybody did start to pit on lap 52, and then there was another yellow a few laps later (nothing to do with Douglas this time), which left Douglas 8th on the final restart, and Douglas this time was able to make not much more progress, finally finishing 7th. Given where he started, and how bad he normally is in traffic, Douglas was happy with this result, even if he had led for a lap or two at half distance, just before his pitstop. It was better than he would have bet on prior to the race. The race result sheet at the end spelt out that there had been 5 Cautions through the 62-lap race, lasting for 16 laps in all.
Selected race resultsCode: Select all
1. R. Hornaday
7. D. Mann
13. R. Cooper
35. C. Mears
37. M. Irvin
EarningsCode: Select all
Previous total $1,816,738
Salary $ 28,800
Winnings $ 1,816
Merch income $ 998
New total $1,848,352
Selected NBS championship positionsCode: Select all
1. Tony Stewart 1788 points (lead of 391 points over Mayfield in 2nd...)
7. Morgan Irvin 1234 points -554
10. Douglas Mann 1184 points -604
15. Rickie Cooper 1094 points -694
21. Casey Mears 1049 points -739
Wednesday 7th May 2008, NBS, Diamond Hill Plywood 200, Darlington Raceway, qualifying, round 12/35Douglas's first lap in qualifying was faster, at 28.274 seconds. Douglas's car still had the same handling imbalance as in the last race at Richmond, meaning that, even when Douglas was running by himself and trying to keep a low, tight racing line, he was still using the whole width of the race track. He knew that this meant that running in traffic would be hard. Douglas was surprised, therefore, when this converted into pole position! He hoped this would mean that he wouldn't then have to run in traffic, but he coudn't be sure. He would have to be careful if so.
Friday 9th May 2008, NBS, Diamond Hill Plywood 200, Darlington Raceway, race, 36 laps, round 12/35Douglas's pole position was a false hope. Despite holding a lead around the first bend, Douglas soon fell to third, which he held for a few laps. But this was very much known in Europe at the time as a "Trulli Train", where the leaders were pulling away ahead of him, and everybody else was tightly bunched behind. Naturally, this wasn't to last long, and Douglas was 18th on lap 12. Oddly, this drop in positions didn't cause any contact between Douglas and others, mostly because Douglas was so understeery, he was running so wide and everybody was just passing him on his inside. Douglas did then get into a rhythm, and actually reclaimed a position, moving to 17th. On lap 21, however, it all went wrong. Douglas's fuel gauge only went down to the halfway mark on lap 17 or 18, so Douglas actually started thinking that he might try completing the whole race without a pitstop and hope that others would have to do so. But on lap 21, a number of cars bunched up ahead of Douglas, so Douglas lifted off and tried to drive on the inside of them, but unfortunately, the car couldn't steer enough and Douglas drifted up the racetrack into them, got spun 180 degrees, and had someone drive into him, causing an engine failure. Qualifying had promised so much despite the handling imbalance...
Selected race positionsCode: Select all
1. G. Biffle
11. M. Irvin
17. R. Cooper
33. C. Mears
43. D. Mann
EarningsCode: Select all
Previous total $1,848,352
Salary $ 28,800
Winnings $ 87
Merch income $ 998
New total $1,878,237
Selected NBS championship standingsCode: Select all
1. Tony Stewart 1934 points +451
8. Morgan Irvin 1369 points -565
13. Douglas Mann 1218 points -716
14. Rickie Cooper 1206 points -728
21. Casey Mears 1113 points -821
Wednesday 21st May 2008, Whelen Modifieds, Railway 150, Redball, qualifying and race, 37 laps, round 7/16No, I haven't missed any events. There is just a gap in the middle week of May for both NBS and Whelen Modifieds. 13.504 seconds and pole position. Slight pull to the right, but no mid-corner understeer which is good. Confident of a good race on a short oval.
The race. From pole, Douglas led every lap and won. Douglas was also just a short distance from beginning to lap people too. A winning margin of 5.469 seconds. Not bad considering the typical lap time.
Selected race positionsCode: Select all
1. D. Mann
7. A. Walker
17. L. Stanton
18. S. Floyd
20. N. Beasley
EarningsCode: Select all
Previous total $1,878,237
Race winnings $ 17,654
Sponsor income $ 155,666
Merch income $ 4,995
New total $2,056,552
Selected Whelen Modifieds championship positionsCode: Select all
1. Douglas Mann 1150 points (24 point advantage)
7. Alan Walker 989 points -161
9. Nate Beasley 957 points -193
16. Stu Floyd 859 points -291
18. Lou Stanton 838 points -312
Not a good season so far for Douglas's teammate Lou Stanton. Every driver has entered every race so far, so Lou Stanton is 18th out of 22, with Kasey Clemons in last on 754 points, 84 points difference between Lou and Kasey.
Thursday 22nd May 2008, NBS, Lowe's Motor Speedway, CarQuest Auto Parts 300, qualifying, round 13/3531.212 seconds and 20th on the grid. Douglas could foresee an ugly race for him coming up, especially as the car still had the same bad set up as in the last race, where it wasn't driving straight.
Saturday 24th May 2008, NBS, Lowe's Motor Speedway, CarQuest Auto Parts 300, race, 50 laps, round 13/35Douglas quickly settled into 26th place in the early laps, until he got a wobble on and lost some places on lap 7, dropping to 34th. One drama-free lap later, and Douglas was now 43rd and last. The car was fairly beaten and just clipping the wall at the end of lap 15, while Douglas was in 42nd (having naturally had a physical tussle for that position), was enough to send Douglas into DNF territory with mechanical failure.
Selected race resultsCode: Select all
5. M. Irvin
22. C. Mears
29. R. Cooper
43. D. Mann
EarningsCode: Select all
Previous total $2,056,552
Contract salary $ 28,800
Race winnings $ 124
Merch income $ 998
New total $2,086,474
Selected NBS championship standingsCode: Select all
1. Tony Stewart 2065 points +437
6. Morgan Irvin 1529 points -536
15. Rickie Cooper 1282 points -783
20. Douglas Mann 1252 points -813
21. Casey Mears 1210 points -855
Thursday 29th May 2008, StonebridgeRacing.com 200, Dover International Speedway, qualifying, round 14/3522.974 seconds and pole position. The car was a bit more manageable this week for Douglas, but still not perfect. He felt that if he could hold the lead, he would be fine, or else it would be another repeat of last weekend. All or nothing.
Saturday 31st May 2008, StonebridgeRacing.com 200, Dover International Speedway, race, 50 laps, round 14/35Douglas led for the first few laps, but found that it was hard to hold the car on the line he wanted in a consistent manner, which eventually led to unfortunate contact that led to a DNF on lap 8. Douglas was in 15th place by the time this happened. He wished his mechanics could tune this handling problem out of the car...
Selected race resultsCode: Select all
1. B. Said
13. M. Irvin
19. R. Cooper
42. C. Mears
43. D. Mann
EarningsCode: Select all
Previous total $2,086,474
Salary $ 28,800
Race winnings $ 81
Merch income $ 998
New total $2,116,353
Selected NBS championship positionsCode: Select all
1. Tony Stewart 2193 points +451
5. Morgan Irvin 1658 points -535
14. Rickie Cooper 1388 points -805
21. Douglas Mann 1291 points -902
22. Casey Mears 1247 points -946
Wednesday 4th June 2008, Whelen Modifieds, Dodge Racing 150, Tiburon Raceway Stadium, qualifying and race, 37 laps, round 8/16Douglas's favourite race track, because it was so short and thus usually went well there. It was going to be a double header, with the NBS race following on immediately afterwards, which also reduced Douglas's travel commitments that week.
Qualifying - 10.832 seconds and pole position. Of course. But could he keep out of trouble? More likely to win in these than his NBS race car at the moment...
Race - Douglas led the first lap, then his teamamte, Alan Walker led the next two, then Douglas led the rest of the race to the chequered flag. Simples. But Douglas was wondering if the NBS race at this track at the weekend would be as straight-forward...
Race resultsCode: Select all
1. Douglas Mann
2. Alan Walker
4. Nate Beasley
14. Lou Stanton
15. Stu Floyd
EarningsCode: Select all
Previous total $2,116,353
Race winnings $ 20,000
Sponsor income $ 155,666
Merch income $ 4,995
New total $2,297,014
Selected Whelen Modifieds championship standingsCode: Select all
1. Douglas Mann 1340 points +148
3. Alan Walker 1164 points -176
6. Nate Beasley 1117 points -223
13. Stu Floyd 977 points -363
15. Lou Stanton 959 points -381
Thursday 5th June 2008, NBS, Dodge Performance 300, Tiburon Raceway Stadium, qualifying, round 15/35
12.632 seconds. Pole position. These cars were a lot less fast around this track than the Whelen Modifieds, must demonstrate how small and tight this race track is! Although this was 5 hundredths of a second faster than in April in the same car at the same track.
Saturday 7th June 2008, NBS, Dodge Performance 300, Tiburon Raceway Stadium, race, 75 laps, round 15/35Douglas took an early lead. In the Whelen Modifieds race, he had caught up with the backmarkers at the end of the 37-lap race, but there were only 22 cars in that race. Here, Douglas had caught up with the back of the pack on lap 18, as this was a grid of 43 cars. There was briefly a yellow-flag caution on around lap 30. On that restart, Douglas fell to 7th, but fought his way back up to 2nd by the next full-course yellow on lap 42. Douglas thought this would be an ideal time to pit, as he knew his tyres and fuel would definitely not last the distance, and getting some repairs done on such a busy track wouldn't go amiss. And even if the race had stayed green, Douglas had been planning to pit around lap 40 anyway, but had been planning to be in the lead before pitting. But this was as good a time as any. Even if the pit lane was longer than the racetrack itself... The race resumed without any other pit stops, but with Douglas in 12th. Lap 49 saw another yellow-flag caution period, with Douglas having got up to 5th. Douglas retook the lead under green-flag conditions on lap 59. He then had a few laps of clear track running. Then the pit stops for everybody else started, which gave Douglas a much-less densely populated race track for about another 5 laps. Lap 69 saw the final caution come out. Douglas was cynical about this one, because it meant that on the restart on lap 71, he had to briefly fight for the win, but his winning margin ended up being 1.703 seconds, impressive after 4 laps on such a short track, I think. Anyway, only two cars finished on the lead lap, two cars were 1 lap down, 4 cars were 2 laps down, and 20 cars were 3 laps down!12 cars were 4 laps down, while the remaining cars were 5 laps down. Douglas felt quite proud in avoiding damage in such a crowded race that saw4 full-course cautions, not all of which were for him.
Car handling - this track was far too short to really find out if the car was mishandling. Although Douglas did better than in the last NBS race here in April...
Selected NBS race positionsCode: Select all
1. Douglas Mann
12. Morgan Irvin
27. Rickie Cooper
41. Casey Mears
EarningsCode: Select all
Previous total $2,297,014
Salary $ 28,800
Race winnings $ 7,200
Merch income $ 998
New total $2,334,012
Selected NBS championship positionsCode: Select all
1. Tony Stewart 2368 points +496
6. Morgan Irvin 1785 points -583
16. Douglas Mann 1481 points -887
17. Rickie Cooper 1470 points -898
22. Casey Mears 1287 points -1081