Dakoda Armstrong Driver Diary: A NASCAR Cadillac Kid

I think Texas was definitely a little disappointing for the No. 98 team because the No. 13 and No. 88 had figured some stuff out; they were pretty good in practice and the race. We had limited practice time with all the rain we had, so we didn’t have a whole lot of time to work on it. The thing we did do well was being able to get all of our laps back.

We thought we had a flat tire during the race; we had to come in and and went two laps down changing them. But we were able to fight back and get those laps back but just didn’t have enough to get back up to the front. It was definitely a little disappointing there, but it gives the team a little more momentum since two of the teams finished well. We’ve all had a little bit of bad luck this year.

Looking forward to Kentucky, it was a good one for us last year. We’re definitely looking for another good run and to even run better and top it. Having finished so well last fall, I’m really hoping we can go back there and run a little better. Last year we ran third and fourth there for over half the race, so I know we were even better than where we finished at.

We’re coming in with a little bit different setup just because it’s going to be so hot, and when we raced there in the fall, it was 50 degrees. It’ll be a little different in track grip and we’ll have to compensate for that, but we’ll see how it goes.

For the most part we’re headed in the right direction so far this season. Maybe it’s not quite as fast as everybody wants, but we’re getting there. It’s just taking a little bit of time but we’re getting better every week. Dover was a tough track; I hadn’t been there before and it’s a tough place to get a hold of. I really thought we’d be good at Texas but didn’t really get a hold of it. We’re definitely looking forward to continuing that getting better each and every week at Kentucky.

Wednesday afternoon we went to Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America to meet some of the people working in the office. We did a lot of media stuff with local news and answered questions. There were owners there and other drivers. Darrell Waltrip and Kenny Wallace were there and all three of our drivers were there having a good time. We were showing our support to Toyota so it was a lot of fun.

With a few free weeks since racing at Texas, I went home and went up to the shop for a while at ThorSport. I went and watched my brother and cousin race some. I even went up to Winchester for the ARCA race and that was the race I won last year. It was pretty fun just hanging out and taking it easy.

I had already been back to Winchester before to watch my cousin run in a sprint car. He actually let me jump in it and remember how I used to run. I forget how I did it because it was really fast. That’s just one of those tracks in a sprint car that just took half the day to get back in rhythm again. It’s a fun place with a lot of banking and it was cool to watch.

Fan Questions

Do you have a question you’d like to have Dakoda Armstrong answer? Leave it in the comments below or email Beth and look for it in the next edition of the diary on Aug. 3.

What kind of car do you drive when you’re not racing?

I drive a Cadillac CTS and it’s pretty nice. My first car was a 2004 Avalanche and I took pretty good care of it. I had some nice friends, so I was able to get a decent amount of money back for it when I traded it in towards this car. I really like the Cadillac. I never thought I’d like cars; I always thought I’d like trucks, but especially with the economy, I like the amount of gas it saves.

If nothing stood in your way – a place to store it, how to take care of it, fuel mileage or anything else – what would be your dream car?

That’s a good question. BMW is coming out with a hybrid. The i8 was the coolest car I’ve ever seen, but it’s not out yet. It was in Mission Impossible. It’s electric but it’s also a turbo Diesel. But if I had to pick a car that’s out there already, I’d want a white Lamborghini with a blue pinstripe right down the middle of it.