The Daytona Experience - Day Three

Sunday morning was pretty much a replay of our Saturday morning procedure except we got up a half hour earlier to get into the Fan Zone when they opened the gates. Now you’ve got to understand, me and my legs made it through Saturday with flying colors (maybe it was the adult beverages!) but Sunday morning I had to get in a hot shower to relieve my tied up lower leg muscles. Suddenly I’m very aware of what would be expected in terms of walking/standing over the next few hours. It was time to “grin and bear it”!

So here we are, quickly (ahem) walking through the vendor area, getting our credentials checked and walking through the underpass into the infield. I’m not sure how far we walked but I know I was looking with envy at these people being hauled around in golf carts and towed people carriers… Walking west through the vast motorhome area, I’m wearing my Kyle Busch ball cap (didn’t have the T on this day…) and darn near everywhere I looked there were Dale Earnhardt Jr. flags flying and his paraphernalia (I even saw a Dale Jr. dog dish!). From some of the looks I was getting I felt like a U.S. Serviceman marching through Afghanistan!

Finally we turned north toward the main grandstand and eventually found the Fan Zone. By
this time D.J. and I are walking along side by side while everyone else is pushing ahead. Neither of us is letting on about our legs as we tag along and eventually join in to hear Kristen’s explanations concerning what was going on in the garage area. I know those pit crew members have pretty much got tunnel vision while carrying out their tasks but it’s got to be somewhat disconcerting to have all these people constantly scrutinizing what you’re about. Both of the Busch brother’s cars were being prepped for inspection so we could see that while most of the others were not to be seen until we made our way up on the garage roof and meandered to the east end of the balcony where you could see the inspection areas. That inspection is pretty intense and you know when a team was questioning themselves about passing inspection as they towed along one of their mobile tool boxes just in case they had to make some last minute adjustments to satisfy the inspectors.
The way Daytona’s inspections run the cars enter on the far end of the long narrow building to the upper left and go through three different inspection sites as they weave their way from one inspection stall to another (working back toward where we were standing) and then they enter the template area (the canopied area on the right and in the center).

That’s Michael Waltrip’s number 15 just exiting the template inspection area and yes, after Friday night’s truck problems, there’s one of Waltrip’s toolboxes ready to go…

While waiting I caught a glimpse of a guy down below us in the garage area and lo and behold(!) there's ole' DW walking along signing autographs!

Darrell Waltrip in the blue shirt.

It was about this time that D.J. and I made a momentous decision… We left the crew and went to find a place to sit. It was time for Motrin! We people-watched for a while and kept
waiting for our compadres but missed them. Knowing it was time to head for the pit area we made our way out there and were happy to find them in Kurt’s pit where we were able to join in and get a quick tour.

The Hi-Tech Pit Box, loaded with electronics...

Next, we moved out front to sign the start/finish line, catch the concert and finally the driver introductions… Here’s a few of the pictures I was able to get…

D.J. signing the historic checkered start/finish line (hat with flames)...

Denny Hamlin, Bad Brad Keselowski and Brian Vickers being introduced.

The Busch Boys! Yeeee Haaaawww!!!

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These were taken while holding the camera over the top of my head and hoping the shots would come through...

This being my first NASCAR race and knowing Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the most popular driver, I
had no idea just how loyal his fans really are. So the drivers are being introduced in order of their starting position in the 500 and there’s somewhat polite applause and cheering for a few of the drivers (Tony Stewart, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson) and then my driver came up on the walkway to be met with either dead silence or a scattering of boos! It’s like I’m the only one cheering for him and you should have seen the looks I was getting for my “GO KYLE!” yells. I glanced over at Kristen and she’s just smiling back while shaking her head… A short while later Kurt appears and there’s just a ripple of light applause while Kristen is yelling so I let loose with “BUSCH BROTHERS RULE!” and if looks could kill I’d have died right on the spot! I’m not sure if standing next to D.J. (a 6’3” scrapper) had anything to do with not being mugged or not!

Then Dale Jr. popped onto the walkway and the whole place went up with a commotion you’d have to personally experience. One of the Coors family members (Pete?) was on hand to celebrate Dale winning the pole. A couple of brief comments and Dale tossed his Amp Energy cap into the crowd! Now that would be one heck of a collector’s item!

It was time to move into the grandstand and let me tell you, I was ready to park it, but first it was an uphill climb. There were stairways to climb from the high side of the track and then the grandstands themselves. All these people from the Fan Zone were being siphoned into the stairways and it was something standing on an 18 to 20 degree incline while the siphon took effect, but I made it!

Up in the stands our shaded seats awaited and from that vantage point it sure looked like the 2011 Daytona 500 was sold out! The grandstand on the far side of the track (that was empty on Saturday) was completely filled and where there’d been an empty seat here and there in the area we occupied on Saturday every seat was now filled. There were little green flags distributed by American Ethanol taped to every seat and the fans were asked to wave them at the start of the race so we did and the race was on!

Next was the third lap in honor of Dale Earnhardt Sr. For just over a couple of minutes it was really eerie. The whole place went quiet. All we could hear was the cars out on the track and everywhere you looked people had their right hands up with three fingers extended and many with their heads down. It was a moment to remember.

I think it was the fifth lap when my driver (Kyle) spun on the backstretch and a cheer (!)
went up. Now I’d been a little loud up to that point but I calmed down immediately. Everyone in our crew was telling me (tongue in cheek) how sorry they were and I knew they were just being nice… From that point Kyle had to take advantage of every opportunity to get back in the pit while his team worked to get his car back in order. The thought was that the car was knocked out of alignment as they kept working on both the front and rear underneath the car, then, as the pack circled back toward the start/finish line off he’d go again to stay on the lead lap. I could hear a couple of female fans (pretty sure they were pulling for Hendrick drivers) laughing each time Kyle made it back into the pits. I wasn’t going to give those two bimbos any satisfaction whatsoever by turning to see who was popping off.

Luckily, the cautions just kept coming with Kevin Harvick blowing his engine early and then the “big one” occurred on the 29th lap. That wreck essentially knocked many of the top drivers out of contention, JJ, Jeff and Martin among them. Ya know, that was the last I heard out of the women up above me (turn about's fair play!) but I was sorry for the Gordon
and Johnson fans in our crew. Suddenly Kyle wasn’t pitting anymore and slowly but surely moving back toward the front of the pack. I had anticipated Rowdy having a problem with this dance partner deal at Daytona. Who would want to dance with my guy? Well, those thoughts were confirmed when time and time again Kyle was relegated to being a pusher instead of the pushee. No one was willing to get behind the 18 (and that included his so-called teammates). Since seeing the replays I now understand that the repair work done to the back of Kyle's car may have played a direct role in nobody wanting to push him. Kurt's initial nose repair work (sticky tape) had to be ripped off and replaced with sheet metal since he kept sticking to the cars he was pushing and I think no one wanted to push Kyle for the same sticky tape reason... I know at the time I was really down on Joe Logano for continually backing away from the 18... It was like, "Go to fist city, Kyle! Knock that Home Depot dude into the cheap seats!

Given the circumstances Kyle just kept slowly working his way through the field while I kept pointing out to D.J. that he’d made it onto the electronic place keeping board and then he was moving up the board. With Kurt consistently running at or near the front Kyle made an unbelievable run to take the lead at the halfway point as he jumped from car to car ever working to the front and then led at lap 101 with Clint Boyer finally giving him a push! I have to say I was encouraged!

The rest of the race was like a swap meet. One driver would lead for a while then another would take over and on it went right up to the end…

The old poem about Casey At Bat came to mind when Junior got spun at the end…

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and little children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville — mighty Junior has spun out.

Everybody was surprised and then happy for the young rook that won, but leaving the track it was definitely a subdued crowd that seemingly wandered aimlessly toward the gates and on…

Another long wait for our bus ride and then it was dinner at the North Turn Beach Bar and Grill before I said my goodbyes and drove across Florida to sleep in my own bed that night.

I want to once again thank everyone involved in putting this weekend together and for including a perfect stranger in the mix! People like D.J., Tim, Ellie, Terry, Kristen and Frank make life worth living! It was great!