600 Miles: A Little of Everything

This was my first time spotting for the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowes Motor Speedway. As we saw tonight, the extra 100 miles makes for some interesting stories. I had a feeling going into the weekend that this was going to be a different kind of race. I also know there are a lot of guys, including myself, saying things like, "if this wouldn't of happened" we would have had a top 10, top 5, or even a win. This race always has some interesting story lines but they all come down to the same thing: be there at the end of 600 miles.

Although this was my first 600 miler as a spotter, I knew my driver had plenty of experience at LMS and at this endurance event. DJ's history says he will be good in the "big ones." This weekend was shaping up to be one of those races. After qualifying on Thursday I just had a feeling that he was going to be good in the race. Even after not having a stellar final practice, I thought he was good enough and smart enough to make things work in his favor.

The beginning of the race was crazy with two large crashes that DJ was able to make it through with minimal damage. Between the two crashes, there were plenty of good cars that had damage. DJ is good a taking advantage of things like this during the course of a race. It was really looking good to me. He had some track position and a car that Jason Burdette was going to work on and make better. I could just feel it: DJ was sounding confident and there was a long way to go.

What happened next was really disappointing for everyone involved. On a restart, as DJ entered turn one, I saw several cars going to the outside so I just informed him of how many were going to the outside of him. I knew something was wrong but I was just hoping that maybe he was going to be able to jump back in line and keep it going. He then came over the radio and said, "I blew up." He sounded dejected. This was the end of the night for DJ and the UPS Toyota team but they should keep their heads up about some of the good things that happened this weekend.

I told you it was a strange day. There are not many days that I get to see part of the race from the roof, listen to part on the radio, and watch part on tv. Once I left the roof, I jumped in the car and listened to the next hundred laps on the radio. This was the portion of the race that Vickers was checking out, or at least they made it sound like he was checking out on the field. For that portion, I was hoping Vickers could bring his Toyota home with a top five. Once I made it home there was still 100 laps left. As I sat there and watched I could see that it was going to be an interesting finish.

There were some guys up front that I was pulling for: Casey Mears, JJ Yeley, Kyle Petty, and Ricky Rudd? How could you not notice Kyle Petty? I enjoyed working with Butch Hylton last year so it was good to see Rudd up there at the end. As far as Mears and Yeley, I just like to see first time winners. Nothing against the other guys that have won but there is a new excitement in victory lane when a driver wins his first race. It is crazy that a Mears wins a stock car race on Memorial Day weekend. I was glad to see Casey get a good break. I predict that this win will send Casey to the next level. He can now have the same confidence that Jimmy and Jeff have.

Some might not like it but I like to see some races come down to strategy. No one wants to see this every week but it is good to see at certain races: the 600 and the Brickyard are two that come to mind. There might be some that didn't get to see their favorite guy win or even finish but it was an interesting race. Be it the 600, or next week at Dover, you have to be fast, but you have to be there at the end.

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