Mike Hembree: From dirt to Daytona? It’s a long trip

COMMENTARY

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – They come to Daytona International Speedway bright-eyed and dreaming, watching heroes named Gordon and Earnhardt Jr. and Stewart race around the track at speeds they’re sure they, too, can reach.

They’re 6 or 12 or 16 years old, kids caught up in the magic. Someday, maybe soon they think, they’ll be across the fence and inside the noise, inside the race cars, inside the dream.

Increasingly, the evidence suggests that they won’t.

At no time in the history of stock car racing has it been harder for the average Joe (or Jane) to reach the top level of the sport. Time was when a couple of local-track championships and standout performances in a regional series or a year-long sweep through assorted USAC divisions opened the door for much bigger things.

Now, poking one’s head through that door could result in having it slammed on one’s nose. The 43 available spots in every Sprint Cup race are jealously protected by those who currently have them, and some of the occasional vacancies are being scooped up not by champions from Greenville-Pickens Speedway but by strangers like Dario Franchitti and Patrick Carpentier.

It’s a whole new world out there – literally. Helps to maybe even speak a foreign language.

Brad Keselowski doesn’t, yet he’s in the mix. He sees himself as one of the lucky ones.

Keselowski landed a ride with Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Nationwide Series team late last season and remains in that role this year. He turned 24 this week and, with a good team and a reliable sponsor (the U.S. Navy, which isn’t going out of business anytime soon), has as good a chance as any other non-Sprint Nationwide driver to do well this season.

To get here, he ran and won in Limited Late Models and Super Late Models in the Midwest and learned the ropes of big-league racing with his father’s Craftsman Truck team. Still, he had to keep knocking on the door to get in, and he got his chance later than he hoped.

He watched with some resentment – actually, he said, with a lot of resentment – as Kyle Busch, two years younger, got a shot with Jack Roush’s Craftsman Truck team in 2001. That led to Busch moving on to Cup, and he’s now considered one of the sport’s young stars.

“I saw drivers advance by me in my career that I felt did absolutely nothing to advance, just caught breaks,” Keselowski said. “A perfect example.  Kyle Busch got to drive a truck. I remember thinking about it. He was 2 or 3 years younger than me. I looked at his credentials at that time when Jack hired him. I was like, ‘Why him?’ I had been running late models in Michigan and winning races. I looked at his credentials and didn’t think they were anywhere near mine. I had been shooting at that, and I didn’t get a shot. I really resented that. He’s obviously very talented. I respect Kyle Busch now, but at that time I didn’t.”

You can find that sort of resentment at almost every local short track where there is one or more impressive drivers with ambition, Keselowski said.

“There are so many talented drivers trying to get here now that you have to win the lottery,” he said. “And the best way to win the lottery is to keep playing. That was the key for me. I kept trying and trying. I eventually got a winning ticket. And I was still lucky to get it.”

Regan Smith cashed his. He moved through Hooters ProCup, Craftsman Truck and Nationwide racing to get a Cup spot with Dale Earnhardt Inc. He’s favored by some to win the Rookie of the Year award. Among his competitors will be Franchitti and Carpentier, guys who got here on very different paths. Smith said he has no complaints about them being on board.

“I can understand where some of the short-track guys around the country are a little frustrated with it, but in order for the sport to continue to grow we need new people and new ways to look at it,” he said. “They are talented race car drivers. They have a lot of experience. They had to work their way up the open-wheel ranks just like others had to work their way through the stock car ranks.”

When you get your shot, you have to be ready. Often, you have to be more than ready.

“You’ve got to go out there and dance that fine line to show what you can do, but you can’t wreck one of the veterans,” Smith said. “This all has definitely stepped up the pressure that’s on everybody. I don’t want to say you only get one shot, but it’s tough to get these opportunities.”

Dreaming about the Daytona 500? Wake up. Smell the reality.

• Mentioned Drivers:
• Brad Keselowski