Patrick Carpentier (No. 10 Charter Communications Dodge Charger) finished 29th in the Goody’s Cool Orange 500.

YOU RAN WELL DURING THE MIDDLE STAGES OF THE RACE.

Carpentier: “I’m really happy. I mean, it’s a learning process. It’s something to do one lap but to learn to run with these guys for the race, that’s the problem. At first I was running not too bad and then I started getting spin out and I was lucky I didn’t hit the wall and spun me twice and we kept going. I was ‘Man, when is this going to stop [laughs]?’ It seemed like it was getting from bad to worse and I was in everybody’s way until I understood at the end that I needed to roll the center a lot faster than what I was doing. I was kind of like driving it like qualifying which is very different than what it needs to be. At the same time, when you drive it like that, the setup is very different so I’m learning to understand. That’s what it is, you know, all those three races you miss you get behind. You don’t learn that stuff. You stay home, you watch and you don’t learn nothing. So making the race this weekend was an amazing thing, especially for a short track.”