Michel Jourdain Jr. rolled off the starting grid for Saturday's O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 at the Kansas Speedway in the 30th position.  Jourdain managed to gain two positions in the first lap, but by lap three, the No. 50 truck developed a tight handling condition. This became an issue that would plague the team for the remainder of the day.

Jourdain used all of his driving skills to maneuver his "horribly tight" truck around the 1.5 mile oval, while his crew was contemplating what changes they could make to help with the handling.  The first caution came out on lap 31 and Michel and his No. 50 crew took advantage of the opportunity to pit for four tires, a track bar adjustment and a tire pressure adjustment.  These changes seemed to do the trick since Michel was turning out lap times comparable to those trucks in the top 10. Unfortunately, the pick up in lap times was short lived, as the "tight" handling condition returned.

Luckily, the team wouldn't have to wait very long to try their luck again at making adjustments.  The second caution of the day flew on lap 39 and Michel returned to pit road for fuel and another track bar adjustment.  Once again the changes weren't the right match and Michel was left struggling with an ill-handling truck.

"There is something wrong with this thing, it just won't turn," said Michel. "It just wants to go straight; I have to break on entry to turn."

With those words in mind, his crew went to work trying to come up with a solution.  On lap 54, Michel started to feel a vibration originating from the back of his truck.  They decided to ride it out and wait for a caution, but no caution came.  On lap 66, they made a green flag stop for four tires and fuel.

New tires were not the answer to the tight handling condition either. Michel brought the truck back in to the attention of his crew on lap 86 for another track bar adjustment.  The tight handling condition persisted and left everyone stumped as to what was causing it.

The fourth caution of the day came on lap 90 when the No. 63 truck took a spin.  Jourdain took advantage of the caution to come down pit road and let his crew take a look under the hood to see if anything was rubbing.  Once again they were stumped, nothing was rubbing and they were left with no solution to the extremely tight handling truck.

Determination to solve the "mystery tightness problem" sent them back to pit road on lap 105 for four tires, fuel and another adjustment.  The nagging tight condition continued so the call was made to ride it out to the end.

Michel Jourdain Jr. managed to avoid all cautions during the 167-lap race for a 32nd place finish.  The team looks forward to improving next week in Kentucky, a track where Michel earned a top-20 finish just a few weeks ago in the NASCAR Busch Series race.