November 18, 2007
By Kim Roberson

Kim Roberson

It is an interesting study in contrasts at Homestead Miami Speedway this weekend.

When the Cup garage was humming with last minute work on cars in preparation for final practice, Dale Earnhardt Junior’s team was missing in action. The red Budweiser 8 car was sitting in the last garage stall Saturday morning, and the only people around it were fans taking the opportunity to have their picture taken with the car. The only crewperson that could be found was sitting on the floor of the garage across from the 8 car, scribbling notes in a small notepad. No work was being done on the car, and with the exception of that one crewman, not a red Bud shirt or hat could be found anywhere except on the fans.

Once I asked the crew person if he was left to stand guard on the 8 car, he quickly got up from his floor position, said “No” and hurried off -- only to vanish like his co-workers. Three stalls down, the crew of the Bass Pro Shops Chevy were hard at work getting their car ready for the race. When I asked a man in a DEI shirt, with a Bass Pro Shops logo on his hat, a question about Dale Junior, I was told “I don’t know anything about that team”. A quick trip to the team hauler uncovered…no one. People stood or sat outside of most of the haulers lining the road on either side of the red DEI truck, but there was no one to be found to provide answers to questions about the 8 team.

Dale Junior has made one appearance this weekend, when he announced that he was teaming with the Navy and Brad Keselowski for another two years in the Nationwide Series. When the session was opened up for questions, one reporter asked him about his Cup ride, and Junior smiled and politely asked that the focus be kept on JR Motorsports and their announcement, not his Cup situation.

Meanwhile, the new driver of the red Bud car in 2008, Kasey Kahne, was making his way back from the Busch garage, flanked by fans, signing as many autographs as he could manage before his assistant told him he had to get a move on.

If it weren’t for the fact the 8 car was actually out on the track for practice, you might think the team decided to take their final weekend off and just show up for the race on Sunday. Fans had cameras at the ready, enjoying the unimpeded access to their favorite driver’s car, but the 8 crew, who are usually happy to have their photo’s snapped with adoring fans, were gone. One woman who saw me standing there walked up and asked “You want me to take your picture with it?” Normally, I would refuse, but I had never had my picture taken with the 8 car, and obviously, will never have the chance again, so now, I am the proud owner of a picture of me and the back of the Bud car.

On the other hand, if you headed out to the road that runs in front of the track, where the souvenir haulers are lined up side by side for the last time, you would think Black Friday had come early for many folks. There were four Dale Junior haulers strategically placed along the road, and all of them had lines several people deep. While that isn’t unusual on a given race weekend, the prices that many folks were buying their goodies for was. Hats were $3 to $5, shirts $10. Lanyard pins that used to sell for $25 were marked down to $2. “Can you believe these prices?” one man asked me. “This stuff is gonna be worth something some day, and they are almost givin’ it away!”

The shelves in one of the 8 trailers were down to just hats and die cast motorcycles. “You might just empty this thing by the end of the weekend” I commented to the woman who was bagging up my three $3 ball caps. She smiled at me and said “I am hoping we can do it today and get out of here early!”

While sales were brisk at the Bud trailers, you could find fans in red gear standing in front of places they had never been seen before: the 24 and 48 trailers. “I’m not lookin’ for their stuff.” said one Junior fan. “I’m lookin’ to see if they’ve got the stuff for next year yet.” The HMS trailers didn’t have the 88 gear out yet, but you could hear the “cha-ching” of dollar signs going off in their eyes every time they were asked.

The 8 trailers weren’t the only one having close out sales. The 5 trailer for Kyle Busch had even less left in it than the 8 trailers. The haulers of the 44 and 00 had their stuff on sale. The 25 trailer had items on clearance, and the 21 hauler had “Buy one, get one free” signs out front. However, the sales weren’t as brisk as at the 8 trailers.

If you have a friend who has a driver they are loyal to, and they don’t mind that the gear they are getting is going to be out of date at Daytona, then this is the time for you to get your racing gift-buying out of the way.

Once practice was over, the 8 car found it’s place back in it’s stall, and the team came out from wherever they had been hiding, busily working on getting the car ready for Sunday. Their last happy hour was over, and this would be the last time they would work on the 8 car before a race.

As the 8 team ends their season this week, it appears that the team is playing everything low key, even if their fans aren’t. Much like the cowboy hero in an old western, they are here to quietly do their job, and then they will pack up their bags, load them onto their wagon, and while the grateful townspeople wait to cheer their heroes on, they will quietly slip out and vanish away into the sunset.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.

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