NASCAR driver Regan Smith, who heads the Denver-based Furniture Row team’s No. 78 car, is writing a daily diary exclusively for The Denver Post about the Daytona 500.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Once you complete the Duels (Thursday’s qualifying races) and earn your spot in the Daytona 500 field, the rest of the weekend at Daytona is all about fine-tuning.
Practice Saturday set the stage for what we’re all here to do: Win the Daytona 500. We went out for 11 laps, drafting, looking for people to work with, and then we brought it in and parked it for the rest of the day. Our top speed in those 11 laps was 199 miles per hour in the draft.
We know what we need to know about the Furniture Row Chevrolet.
As for winning the Daytona 500 — the biggest race in the biggest series in the country — I don’t think much about that. The bottom line is, there are 5 million things that can lose this race for you and only one that can win it for you.
It’s such a long race. I dreamed of it since I was a kid. I have a lot of history down here, and I used to sit in the grandstands to watch it. My first one was 1992, when Davey Allison won.
The night before a race, I have a good meal and get some rest. I usually eat the same meal the night before, because I know it won’t upset my stomach. I have enough to worry about without throwing that into the mix. Same for race day. I usually eat the same thing, precisely because it won’t upset my stomach and leave me at less than my best for the biggest race of the year.
Prerace ceremonies take up the hour or so before the start. I usually reflect on what’s going to happen when I hear my name called, and again when I’m standing next to the car for the national anthem. You tend to get a little emotional then.
Once I put the helmet on, though, it’s just another race. It’s business as usual. We have a good race car, and we have people out there who will work with us. We have a plan, and while that plan will change throughout 200 laps, it’s a good one to begin with. That’s all you can ask for here at Daytona.
I’ve got a great pit stall, with an opening in front of me so I don’t have to worry about getting boxed in during pit stops.
Daytona is a huge race, but it’s one of 36 races on the schedule. It’s the first one that gives points, and we’re excited to be in the mix here, to have our name and mine in the same sentence as the Jimmie Johnsons, Jeff Gordons, Kurt Busches and Tony Stewarts as contenders for the victory.
Let’s buckle up and see what happens in The Great American Race.
