Great story here. Makes me want to go to Bristol. Anybody got tix?
A dejected Brad Daugherty sat in his late-model stock car, unwilling at that moment on Saturday morning to try to extract his 7-foot frame from behind the wheel.
It might have been that he was hurting more than he was willing to say. Though he waved away a paramedic, saying he was OK, he later admitted his shoulder was stiff and sore.
It also might have been that he had to wait until track workers could hook up the car to a tow truck and haul it away from the entrance to pit row, and into an area where mechanics could figure out what went wrong.
“I think we broke a hub,“ Daugherty told a track official who’d leaned into his window to check on him.
More than likely, however, Daugherty simply didn’t want to admit his first run at Bristol Motor Speedway was finished.
He’s a regular at Tri-County Racetrack in Brasstown, N.C., he’s had success at Myrtle Beach Speedway, and he’s done a bunch of laps at Atlanta Motor Speedway. But Saturday’s test runs were the first time he’d driven on the high-banked, half-mile oval at BMS.
Zipping around the track behind veteran Jack Ingram, Daugherty lasted maybe 10 laps before his No. 43 car began to shake and something gave out behind the right front tire just as he was heading into turn four. The car skid and slammed into the wall with a long bang. He nursed the car through two more turns before it ground to stop just inside pit row.
“I was really looking forward to this,“ Daugherty muttered later, shaking his head. “It didn’t last very long, did it?“
At least he’ll get another crack at it. He’ll be back at BMS in two weeks, when he teams up with Junior Johnson to drive in the 50-lap “Saturday Night Special” celebrity-legends race. Celebrities will drive the first 15 laps, and the legends, including Johnson, Ingram and Harry Gant, will drive the final 35.
Daugherty is one of the few celebrities who has committed to drive that weekend. BMS officials quickly realized after announcing the event late last month that they had not given other potential drivers, including several country-western stars, enough time to adjust their calendars.
Daugherty has no such time constraints. As one of ESPN’s analysts, he’s available pretty much any race weekend. And, with ESPN interested in broadcasting at least some of the “Saturday Night Special,“ he was encouraged to participate if an opportunity arose.
That opportunity came just a few weeks back, when Johnson called to ask if he’d share his ride. Daugherty, who’s been a race fan since he was a kid and who numbered his car in honor of Richard Petty, immediately said yes.
Ingram, a long-time Busch Series driver who won three times in Bristol during his career, also didn’t hesitate when he was asked to participate as a legend. Now 72, Ingram last competed at BMS in 1991. He still drives a copper-colored No. 11 Chevrolet reminiscent of his “Skoal Bandit.“
“The last time I was here, [the track] was asphalt and there were fewer folks in the stands,“ he said. “Otherwise, there’s not that much different. It’s still Bristol.“
And, being Bristol, it’s much different than so many of the tracks on which he competes near his home in Asheville, N.C. After he returned to the pits following Daugherty’s crash, Ingram and a handful of mechanics went to work on the car, pulling each wheel to adjust the suspension.
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Believe it or not, I’m actually NOT going this year 🙁 Hopefully next year. But you know I would already have my tix by now!!! 🙂