STATESVILLE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Along with the Daytona 500 this Sunday, three other racing series are competing at Daytona International Speedway leading up to The Great American Race.
A small Statesville team hopes to have better luck this year in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race one day before the Daytona 500.
The work inside the Jordan Anderson Racing–Bommarito Autosport shop in Statesville has been non-stop since November.
“We actually started working on all our speedway stuff before the season even ended,” Anderson said.
The goal is always to bring your best car to every race, but there is added pressure for perfection when you’re talking about a race at Daytona.
“There is so much love and history and respect for that place. Any kid that grows up in racing, Daytona is that pinnacle of one you wanna win one day,” said Anderson.
This year Jordan Anderson has a better chance of winning as a team owner. You could call it a two-horse race, with two cars he owns competing in the Xfinity Series 300-mile race on Saturday evening.
The crew back at the shop in North Carolina prepared four cars for Daytona. Two of the cars will serve as backups.
“As a small team, we wanna be prepared for anything and everything that can happen,” said Anderson.
Anderson knows all too well what can happen in an instant at Daytona. One year ago, Anderson’s car and driver, Myatt Snider, were in 5th place on the final lap of the Xfinity Series race. The car went sideways and suddenly went airborne, half a lap from the finish line. The car was torn apart by the safety fence.
“It was just not a good feeling when it came back. The car was on one rollback, and the rear clip was on the other rollback, and they came back separately. I think we saved Myatt’s seat and some wiring, and that was it. Everything else was trash,” said Anderson.
The damaged car lost a lot of money, but more importantly, the driver was ok.
This year Anderson has an entire shop of cars ready to go, just in case. A far cry from just five years ago when Anderson had only one race vehicle, a truck he drove in the Craftsman Truck Series.
“I come in here at night, and I turn all the lights off, and I see all the cars in here, and I think, ‘Wow this is happening. This is coming together,’” said Anderson.
Anderson says NASCAR took the damaged car involved in the crash last year and kept it for about two weeks to ensure all the safety mechanisms worked.
The car is now on the property of Dale Earnhardt Jr., who added it to his “racecar graveyard.”
