DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (WGHP) — If you don’t know that today is Valentine’s Day by now, you are in trouble. Every year Valentine’s falls during Speedweeks at Daytona, so drivers have to plan for it unless you are Clint Bowyer.
Clint Bowyer first had to be reminded Feb. 14 is Valentine’s Day.
“It’s Valentine’s Day, isn’t it?” Bowyer said.
And it all started from there.
“Feb. 14 isn’t a very good day for a racer at Daytona. It’s not a very good day for a wife of a racer at Daytona,” he said.
It is safe to say, he’s not the “romantic type.”
“I’m not gonna lie, it’s not a very heartfelt flower arrangement or chocolates. My bus driver picks those up every year across the street and brings them over. It’s just one of the things you do man, forget about all that romance, get that done, get that romance stuff out of the way in the off-season. So you can show up here and focus on the Daytona 500, not a bunch of chocolate and flowers. That’s the way it is at my house. They will come from wherever across the street and last minute. How did I forget this for the 15th year in a row?” Bowyer said.
Bowyer is not alone. Other drivers struggle with Valentine’s Day too.
“This is a true story. I’m on the airplane and I said, ‘I forgot your Valentine’s Day gift,’ and she said, ‘Don’t worry about it I forgot yours too. We’ll figure this out when we get home,'” Joey Logano said.
But there is always one in the crowd who can get it right.
“My wife is pretty accepting of me and she’s pretty easy because I got her a Hershey bar pillow one year for Valentine’s. She thought it was the greatest gift ever. It sets the bar really low for me and makes it easy,” Matt DiBenedetto said.
Next year, the Daytona 500 is scheduled on Valentine’s Day.