The weekend started well. The Archangel crew had meticulously prepared both cars, which was amazing since the #21 only arrived at their shop the prior Saturday! One of my co-drivers and good friend Andrew Davis handled the driving in the first session on Thursday, with the goal of getting comfortable and shaking things down. We had made some minor gear changes since the test days, which we felt would cut down on the number of shifts during the race. For instance, using 4th through the chicane rather than 3rd would mean 1200 less total shifts, assuming we would complete around 600 laps. It had rained that morning so the track was damp, but it dried out and Andrew turned some competitive times. I then took the early afternoon session, and it was held in heavy rain. We used a little more downforce on the car during this session. Qualifying was held around 3 p.m. and since it was still raining, I was in the car. I had a good session, eventually qualifying 4th in class, just in front of our sister #21 car. I especially felt good about that since Andy Lally was in the #21 car and he is a very reputable driver, particularly in the wet.

We had night practice from 6 until 8 p.m., and that was split between our other drivers, Mike Durand and Jeff Clinton, in order to get them some good seat time in the car prior to the race.

Friday dawned another cold, overcast, threatening day. We decided to skip the practice sessions since the crew had a lot of prep work to do on the cars. Since this is a NASCAR track, every crew is actually kicked out of the garages early each night. While this enables the crew to get a good night’s rest, it means that they have a limited amount of time to prepare the cars. We also decided that if it was dry, Andrew Davis would qualify the car, and if it was wet, I would. It stayed dry leading up to qualifying, and as Andrew was on pre-grid waiting to go out, it started to rain. It did not last however and Andrew did a great job, qualifying just behind the #21 car, 7th in class.

Over dinner on Friday night, the drivers met with our Technical Director, Brian Anderson, in order to plot strategy. We decided on a driver rotation of Andrew, myself, Mike then Jeff. We also decided to start with one round of single stints, in order to get everyone ‘in the game’ early, then double up after that. Brian also stressed the need to be easy on the car and to just stick to our race pace. Other teams would certainly sprint out from the start but we would let them go. We discussed momentum and how important it is to pass the GT cars without losing momentum, and without taking a lot out of the brakes. Brian stressed easy shifts and progressive throttle, in order to be easy on the drivetrain. 

Walking on pit lane during the pre-race ceremonies was a great experience. Wall to wall people! Finally it was time to start and Andrew handled it well, staying out of trouble and settling in to our pace. I got in around 2:30 or so, and the traffic was amazing. You constantly had to look way ahead in order to plan traffic without losing momentum. It was a great challenge to hit the laptimes that Brian was looking for and I found it easy to settle into a rhythm. In order to turn good times, but not use up the car you have to be easy on the brakes, rolling onto them early but not as hard, yet still carry the speed through the corners and use the tires a lot, then accelerate smoothly, not abruptly.  My stint ended at around 4:15 and I retreated to the motorhome in the infield, courtesy of Jeff Clinton. We had Speedvision in the motorhome so a bunch of us continued to watch from there. Mike and Jeff continued doing a great job and our competition began to fall by the wayside.  We were VERY consistent. While I was waiting for Andrew to finish his double stint, the lead SRPII car #89 hit trouble and we took the lead at around 8:30 p.m.  I jumped in around 9. I then had a full double stint in green lap conditions. This was great, knowing that we were leading. We had backed off our pace a little bit from earlier, as we continued to build our lead over the #21 car. During this time we moved from 12th overall into 8th and built a 14-lap lead over the #21 car and approximately 25 lap lead over the 3rd place car. We certainly seemed to be on our way. I got out around 11:30 and everyone was pretty pumped about seeing the #22 on the scoring tower, which only fits the top 9 places.

There were so many close calls on the track it’s hard to remember them all. The traffic is pretty intense. So many cars would spin in the hairpins that you came to expect it. One incident in particular came at the beginning of my 9 p.m. stint, while I was in the process of passing a GTS Porsche on the outside entering the braking zone for the chicane. I was beginning to roll onto the brakes and go around him, when I could hear the sound change. I then noticed the Champion Lola coming by the Porsche on the inside, making it three wide. The GTS Porsche (I assume) was not expecting this, and he made a big move to his right towards me, thereby cutting down on my ability to enter the chicane. Rather than trying to get on the brakes harder and risk losing it, as the car was pretty loaded up at this point, I decided to drive on the grass to the right of the entry to the chicane. This was my closest call. Other incidents that were pretty common were catching slower cars while either exiting the infield in turn 6, or exiting the chicane. Many of the slower GT cars insist on exiting all the way up to the wall, and often times I would get pinched up top. You had to be very careful when passing these guys on the outside.

I went back to the motorhome to get something to eat, and then get some rest. I slept off and on, then got up at around 3:30 to make my way back to the pits and get ready for my next stint. Mike and Jeff had continued to build our lead up to 18 laps, and Andrew was in the car now. I got to our pits about 3 laps before Andrew was due to come in for his fuel stop. The team was going to take off the rear bodywork and check things out. Before Andrew could make it in, the right rear CV joint broke, stranding him on the track. He was towed to pit entrance and the crew pushed him the rest of the way. The team got the necessary parts replaced in about 1 hour, as the CV carrier had to be replaced too. This was done in the pouring rain. I cannot say enough about the effort put in by these guys, they are the best!

The repair dropped us about 5 laps behind the #21 car, but still in second. There was about 7 hours left and we still felt that we had the pace to get close. I got back in the car around 6 am for the fateful last stint. Before getting in, Brian and I discussed our strategy and decided on the intermediates. Once getting on the track I knew that it was the wrong choice, but at first I hoped that the track would dry a little more, giving us an advantage when others would have to pit. Then it started to rain again, and it is difficult to tell how hard it is raining when you are driving. It is also difficult to get a good read on the track surface at night. I was still struggling to keep the car on the “black stuff”, and regardless of everything else, I should have come in for rains. I did not and the rest is history, unfortunately “one of them racin’ deals” as they say in NASCAR country.

The good news for the team is that the #21 went on to win! The guys really deserved that and they have a lot to be proud of. It is unfortunate that my mistake cost them a certain 1-2.

Where does that leave us? My deal with Archangel was for only one race, as I pretty much scraped together everything I had to do this event. I am still looking at a serious repair bill too. Archangel wants me to drive for them for the rest of the season, but sponsorship or investment has not materialized. I do not know at this time if I will travel to Homestead or Sebring to try to pick up a ride. I do know that Daytona was a great experience, and one I will not forget. I hope that I will get a chance to redeem myself.

In my last article I stated that I hoped that this article would be from Victory Lane…well it is, but from a totally different perspective as I was supporting my teammates, not exactly what myself, Andrew, Mike and Jeff had in mind.

I would like to thank Mike for giving me this opportunity. It has been enjoyable to do, and I hope that you enjoyed getting an inside perspective. Drop me an e-mail if you have any comments (or any sponsorship leads!), or contact Brian Mackey at The Mackey Marketing Group, (770) 423-9593. Hopefully I will see you in Victory Lane from the podium next time.