The Best Weekend of my Life – Part Two

Some of you may remember reading an article a couple of years ago with a very similar title that was also written by me. That article can be found here, http://www.speedwaymedia.com/?p=48975, and it was truly the best weekend of my life. I never thought that anything could ever top that weekend. I met my idol and my favorite NASCAR driver twice in a span of 24 hours and I never stopped smiling. Pretty sweet, right? Well, this past weekend eclipsed that weekend in Dover, hands down!

It all started on Monday, November 3, 2014 at 5:50 pm. For those who don’t know, I am currently a freshman at Michigan State University majoring in journalism. I was sitting in my seat in Berkey Hall, getting my materials out and waiting for my class to begin. Then, I got a call from an unknown number from New York. I answered it.

The lady on the other end of the phone was named Linda, and I will always remember the words she said to me as I stepped outside the classroom to take the phone call: “Hi, my name is Linda and I’m with Pinnacle Foods. I’m calling about a sweepstakes that you have one […] do you have a minute?” Inside, I was freaking out. But I calmly responded with, “Yes, hello!” Linda proceeded to inform me of what I had been lucky and blessed enough to have won. A sweepstakes! A sweepstakes that included free round trip airfare, free hotel reservations, free tickets to the Ford EcoBoost 200 on Friday evening, the Ford EcoBoost 300 on Saturday, the Ford EcoBoost 400 on Sunday (all at Homestead-Miami Speedway), pit passes for all three days, $150 in race merchandise, $250 worth of spending money, a 1 in 5 chance to win a Bad Boy Buggie ATV that is worth up to and/or around $18,000 and a personal meet & greet session with, yup, you guessed it, the one and only Kevin Harvick. It would behoove me to not include that this was all through and thanks to Armour Racing and JR Motorsports.

As you could imagine, I was in complete and utter shock and disbelief at the entirety of the situation. I still couldn’t believe this all was actually happening to me.

Put yourself in my shoes. Imagine you’re the biggest Harvick fan on the face of the planet.  His back is against the wall after his wreck at Martinsville, he has to win this upcoming weekend at Phoenix in order to advance to the championship round, and you just won all of this. Regardless, I knew that if he didn’t make it to Homestead eligible for the championship title, this was going to be a weekend for the ages. Luckily enough for me, he won at Phoenix, vaulting himself into the championship round. It all came to me.  I am a 18 year old Harvick super fan/college freshman is about to fly to beautiful Miami, FL from snowy East Lansing, MI to see my idol and favorite NASCAR driver compete for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship. Are you kidding me?

I was also allowed to take a guest with me.  I took my dad, who I go to all NASCAR races with and who got me interested/obsessed with this sport when I was five years old. When we touched down in Miami, I thought to myself, “This is actually real!”

So now that I’ve told you all of the stuff that led up to me actually getting to Miami and participating in all of the festivities at the racetrack for the weekend, let’s get to that.

We landed in Miami on Friday morning and after a quick visit with some family, we went to the track and met the man who made everything happen, Mike. He greeted us on a golf cart and took us into the NASCAR credential office to get the necessary credentials for the weekend. The closest thing to credentials I’ve ever had was pit passes, which cost about $100 each. So the mere fact that I had a credential around my neck that gave me VIP access all weekend was mind blowing in and of itself.

After my dad and I talked to Mike for a little bit about me pursuing a degree in journalism from MSU, he took us into the media center so I could see where all the magic happens and where I could possibly (and hopefully) be working for a living one day. We proceeded to walk around the garage (which was again, mind blowing for me) during the final Nationwide Series practice session.  We watched the Sprint Cup Series qualifying and the Camping World Truck Series season finale, the Ford EcoBoost 200, where and when I met various drivers, crew members and media members while they were busy at work.

One of my favorite truck drivers, Darrell Wallace Jr. won the race, and I got to be just outside of victory lane to see the celebration. I even got a little bit of Gatorade and confetti on me. But before I went to victory lane for the celebration, something awesome happened. Mike asked me “Wanna go see if (Ron) Hornaday (Jr.) wants to hang out?” Not really knowing what he meant, I said “Sure!” and before I knew it, we were on a golf cart riding through where the drivers and owners motorhomes were parked and there was Mr. Hornaday!

He was talking to Jimmie Johnson’s dad, who I ended up having a solid 30 minute conversation with about everything from his son being a 6-time NSCS champion to what we like to eat on our cheeseburgers. Then, I talked to the two-time Truck Series Champion, Ron Hornaday Jr. about everything from racing to college. He couldn’t have been anymore nice. He invited me to go on top of his motorhome to get a better view of the track and he even offered me some of his beer. I told him I was only 18, but he told me to find him when I turn 21 and my first cold one is one him. How about that?! I didn’t think that when I woke up that morning, I’d be offered to drink Hornaday Jr.’s beer and be chilling with him at his motorhome in the infield at Homestead-Miami Speedway, that’s for sure. Friday was one of the coolest days I’ve ever had at the racetrack, and as Mike dropped me and my dad off at our rental car and I told him how amazing the day was, he told me: “Good! It’s only the beginning!” I rode back in the car to our hotel with a smile on my face, not knowing what the next 48 hours held for me.

My dad and I got up and headed to the track at 8:00 am on Saturday morning. We, along with the other four grand prize finalists with their guests, arrived at the track and were then taken on a golf cart the same way we were taken the night before, but this time, we were taken to Harvick’s motorhome. He came out and talked to us for a solid ten minutes. I was standing next to him and asked him some questions regarding Sunday’s race as well as the whole season in general. Per usual, he couldn’t have been nicer. This was my eighth time meeting my idol, but it was only the second time we truly talked and I didn’t just take a picture and/or get an autograph. It wasn’t even 10:00 in the morning, and my day had been made.

For the rest of the day, we took a tour of the No. 5 JR Motorsports hauler, hung out in the garage and pits again for Sprint Cup happy hour as well as Nationwide Series qualifying, attended the Nationwide Series driver’s meeting.  We walked pit road  10 minutes prior to the race, met Josh Berry, driver of the No. 5 Ragú car for the weekend, and got to watch the race atop the pit box.  I sat right behind Crew Chief Ernie Cope, who had been Kevin Harvick’s crew chief in the Nationwide Series for some time. At one point during the race, Dale Earnhardt Jr. came atop the pit box. He was all business. He was getting pretty snappy at Josh Berry on the radio and didn’t say hi to us, but it was so cool to see him standing right next to us while the race was going on.

After Matt Kenseth took the checkered flag and won the Ford EcoBoost 300, Chase Elliott, the 2014 NNS Champion, was driving down pit road with the window net down. So I yelled “Congratulations, Chase!” and gave him a thumbs up. He proceeded to give me a head nod (because that’s really all he could do inside the car) and a thumbs up as well. On the car ride back, I couldn’t stop smiling, again. And I knew that the next morning, I would have the opportunity to see my favorite driver win a championship in person. Honestly, I didn’t expect it to happen. I am the most superstitious person you’ll ever meet, and I thought that somehow, something was going to mess it up so that Harvick ended up not winning the championship. I’ll get to it in a little bit, but let’s just say that the next day was one to remember to say the least.

I woke up Sunday morning and I knew exactly what the day could possibly hold for me, someone who is Harvick’s No. 1 fan. I put on the same clothes that I wear for every race day and we headed over to the track. We parked in the infield with our special parking passes and Mike came and picked us up on the golf cart and took us into the garage once again. We were lucky enough to be able to watch the race from a pit road cabana overlooking the frontstretch. The view was amazing, and it was basically like a suite for a baseball or a football game, NASCAR edition. I put my Harvick backpack down in the cabana with my dad and then headed back down to pit road to enjoy the pre-race festivities. I ended up standing right where the No. 4 team would push Harvick’s car (5th place on the starting grid) for about an hour to try and get some good pictures and maybe get a glimpse of the championship contender himself. I ended getting to see Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, along with some other drivers walk by me to their cars for driver introductions and another championship contender, Denny Hamlin, walked right by the crowd of people surrounding the No. 4 car just like any other civilian. I thought it was funny because nobody even noticed him. After security began to clear out the pits, I went back to the cabana and got ready to watch the race. Little did I know that I was about to witness history, cross something off of my bucket list and have the best day of my life.

I’m not going to tell you a whole race recap, but long story short, the four championship contenders were all under a blanket at one point, running second, third, fourth and fifth. Harvick was in 12th with under 20 laps to go, and it wasn’t looking too good. But the four tires prevailed, and in the end, it happened. It actually happened!

Harvick won the Ford EcoBoost 400 and the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, November 16, 2014.

Sunday, November 16, 2014 was hands down the best day of my life.

Truth be told, while walking to class on campus one day before the championship race, I thought to myself what I would do if Harvick won the championship and I got emotional. I laughed to myself because I was alone, tearing up at the thought of my favorite NASCAR driver winning the championship. Something is wrong with me, right? Nope. That just shows how much this sport means to me and how devoted of a fan I am. Is my obsession a little unhealthy at times? Absolutely. Do I care? Heck no.

With that being said, and my aforementioned superstitions, I didn’t say a single word for the last 20 laps. My dad was to my left pumping his fist, but he knew not to bother me because of my somewhat stupid superstitions (BUT THEY FINALLY WORKED!). But when Harvick drove that No. 4 Chevrolet off turn 4, coming to the checkered flag to win the race and the championship, I lost it.

I was like a little girl, crying my eyes out, sobbing uncontrollably. When he crossed the finish line, my eyes were already full of water, so looking back on it, I’m pretty mad at myself because something on my bucket list was to be able to see Harvick win a Cup race in person. I saw that! But I didn’t see him cross the finish line because I was crying like a baby and I fell into my seat, stupid me! But all joking aside, I gave my dad the biggest hug ever. He, along with my mom, are probably the two people that truly know how much this meant to me.

I’ve been watching NASCAR for 13 years, and I suddenly realized that I was able to go down onto the track for the championship presentation. I ran through a crowd of people, pushed over some of them (not proud of it but I did what I had to do, adrenaline was pumping through my veins!) and got there just in time to hear the donuts being made and to see Harvick climb out of his car and celebrate. At this point, I’ve stopped crying but I still think I’m dreaming. I ended up staying on the track for a couple of hours before my dad told me we had to go in order to catch a flight the next morning.

I took some victory selfies (they’re on my twitter, along with a lot of other pictures (@harvicknut_4)) with Harvick’s backside and the rest of the team, got some autographs from Rodney Childers and Gene Haas and also got four race-winning lug nuts from the No. 4 pit, some race-used tire rubber and some grille tape as well; memories that will last a lifetime in the form of dirty parts off of a car & tires. My kind of memories.

I’ve been a Harvick fan since I was five years old. I’ve never wavered from him. I’ve stuck with him through thick and thin, whether it is crew chief changes, suspensions, drama, sponsor changes, team changes, you name it, I’ve been there, along with the rest of Harvick Nation. But I truly believe that I am his No. 1 fan. While I’m typing this right now, I teared up just thinking about this weekend and the fact that he won the championship. That’s devotion. That’s passion. That’s … incredible.

“Holy cow!” is what Harvick said on the radio following his spotter, Tim Fedewa and Crew Chief, Rodney Childers telling him “You are the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion.” When I see Harvick interviewed or I see any clip of that championship race and/or celebration, I can’t help but smile ear to ear.

That weekend was something that a small percentage of NASCAR fans, let alone people, get to experience in their lifetimes. And I got to experience it in person, for free, essentially. Call it luck, call it fate, call it whatever you want, but I can look back on that weekend from now on and tear up, smile and be happy in the blink of an eye. Oh, and I think I know what I’m using the spending money on now, championship merchandise!