Whether you're watching baseball, football or auto racing, it's always nice to be up close to the action. The closer you get the more you realize the speed, precision, and drama uunfolding. And nowhere is the action hotter than at one of NASCAR's biggest tracks, Daytona International Speedway.
Recently, Super Chevy had the chance to get up close when the fine folks from Pennzoil, which sponsors the No. 29 Chevy driven by Kevin Harvick, invited us to attend the Coke 400 at DIS. Not only did we get a tour of the garage, tech inspection and the team's impressive hauler, we then watched the race from the No. 29 pit box, right there on pit row.
While we've seen thousands of races and plenty of pit stops, it was truly amazing to witness the madness from inches away. Despite a long rain delay, the race got underway and we watched as Harvick drove off from the pole and then dominate most of the race, before a pit stop, where the team took two tires instead of four, put them behind. But Harvick fought back and with 20 laps to go he was running in the lead pack.
The energy of the cars whipping by at 180-190 mph was amazing, as our spot on pit row was intense. The crew worked flawlessly, swapping tires and making adjustments all night. As the laps counted down the energy level climbed, and best of all Harvick inched his way back into the lead with just a few laps to go. As has become the norm, there were some wrecks with only a few laps to go, but Harvick drove masterfully, controlling his Pennzoil Chevy until the end, where he edged out the competition to win the race.
As if that wasn't cool enough, we were hurried, along with the crew, to the famous Gatorade Victory Lane, where car owner Richard Childress invited us to be in the winner's photo.
"When Pennzoil and Shell Oil Company began a multi-year agreement in 2007 with Richard Childress Racing as the primary sponsor of the No. 29 Chevrolet driven by Kevin Harvick, an important technical support program between Pennzoil and RCR began as well. Pennzoil scientists worked directly with the race team to engineer their most technologically advanced motor oil available on the market, Pennzoil Ultra(TM)," said our source at Pennzoil.
And it was this connection that enabled us to get the best seat in the house at Daytona, a great palace of speed and a chance to be a winner at Daytona.