Inspection day full of boredom, anxiety

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR Winston Cup inspection for any Daytona 500 is akin to how former champion Bobby Allison used to describe flying: 95 percent boredom and five percent terror.

But for Joe Gibbs Racing crew chief Michael "Fatback" McSwain, on Friday the experience was vastly different in one respect. The 95 percent boredom was accurate -- but the rest was pure exhilaration after driver Bobby Labonte's No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet cleared inspection on its first pass.

	Two members of the No. 18 team grind away at a bracket early in the morning. Credit: Dave Rodman/Turner Sports Interactive

"That's the first time I've had that happen in 11 years," McSwain said after exiting Daytona International Speedway's inspection room merrily waving a circular orange sticker on the tip of his right index finger.

It was his clearance to enter the 2.5-mile speedway on Saturday morning for practice.

"We really didn't think we'd get out so quick -- we didn't even make any plans about what we were going to do," McSwain said. "Man, 2:15 and we're done! We'll go over here and check our normal stuff, all our heights, then we'll get ready for tomorrow and probably send the guys home early."

McSwain thought he knew what he was in for Friday morning -- but the experience was beyond his wildest dreams.

"We came down here and tested and took our car through tech," McSwain said. "We saw what we were going to have to deal with and we figured there was no use in fighting it. It actually went better than we thought it would."

After it took the 19 Winston Cup cars entered in the Budweiser Shootout more than seven hours to clear inspection Thursday -- including his team car, driver Tony Stewart's No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet engineered by crew chief Greg Zipadelli -- McSwain expected the worst.

"We went to dinner last night and discussed all the things they'd been through and Zippy gave me a heads-up on what to expect," McSwain said. "They've made so many body changes this year that's what most of the emphasis is on."

But only seven hours and 13 minutes after the garage opened, McSwain was a free man, relatively speaking. The garage had opened at noon Thursday and it was after 8 p.m. ET before the last crewman straggled out of the garage.

But what was the scene Friday morning?

7 a.m. The 130-yard "tube" that travels from "paddock road" between the media center and the garage area is packed shoulder to shoulder with a cornucopia of mechanics, crew chiefs and engineers.

The line stretches out the end of the passageway and down paddock road towards the infield parking lot between Turns 3 and 4. A chosen few straggle out of the owner/driver lot to the east of the garage -- but they still get in line.

There's not a lot of chatter, as everyone tries to shake the last vestiges of slumber.

	The No. 18 car prepares to go through inspection Friday morning at Daytona. Credit: Dave Rodman/Turner Sports Interactive

A security bag screening is in effect at the end of the tube, but doesn't provide much delay as a simple perfunctory check of briefcases and computer bags is made. Eight out of 10 men simply walk past with free hands.

7:05 a.m. The gate on the No. 18's hauler is down and seven mechanics cluster around the rear of the Peterbilt hauler, patiently waiting.

7:08 a.m. McSwain stands outside the back of the hauler, chatting with a bystander and watching as his men perform their duties as if robotic. This ain't their first rodeo, obviously.

7:10 a.m. The car is out of the truck and atop the lift gate. McSwain walks next door to convene with Dale Earnhardt Incorporated crew chiefs Tony Eury and Slugger Labbe, slugging a Diet Coke.

From a distance they resemble cartoon characters engaging in an animated debate, punctuating their discourse with emphatic hand gestures. McSwain finishes his soda and crunches the can in half before tossing it into a trash can.

Jasper Motorsports crew chief Bootie Barker rolls up in his wheelchair and asks to borrow an ink pen. He quickly fills out his inspection sheet for the No. 77 Jasper Ford -- a legal size, single page carbon-copy document.

"It's one page but it's big," McSwain said. "They don't ever make it over one page but they keep shrinking the words (typeface).

"Each set of inspectors that comes by checks it and signs it, and when you come to the last station with everything checked off and signed off, the last official will sign it and take a copy and give me a copy -- that's when you get your sticker."

7:11 a.m. The No. 18 is on the ground and on its way to its garage stall. Six men push the car through a "Y-turn" that would make a driving instructor proud as they negotiate the alleyway between the double rows of transporters, to get it pointed in the right direction.

7:18 a.m. The Interstate car is on jack stands in garage No. 12 -- its home for the next nine days. It sits about three-and-a-half feet from Jeff Green's No. 30 AOL Chevrolet, making clandestine set-up tweaks unlikely.

7:21 a.m. Chip Ganassi Racing's No. 42 Havoline Dodge has the honor of being the first car in line -- with perhaps the dubious distinction of being the first into the template house -- the "Room of Doom." The inspection line is already out around the front of the building and past the 76 gas pumps.

8:10 a.m. McSwain shares umbrella space with Richard Childress Racing's Todd Berrier and Kevin Hamlin, gleefully described how he had depleted the closeout stock of a local Kmart back home.

"Pencils and deodorant," McSwain said, chuckling. "They were going out of business and it worked out well. When you're in this business you shop for months at a time, not weeks at a time."

	Crew chief Michael McSwain and two members of the No. 18 team check out the rear end of the Chevrolet, with toolbox ready. Credit: Dave Rodman/Turner Sports Interactive

8:20 a.m. An engine tuner has a parts and tool-holding tray attached to the nose of the car as he stands in a fender well making adjustments. Individual inspectors or pairs with specific duties visit the car as they make their appointed rounds.

"They have a routine in which they go in order of points," McSwain said. "What they started doing last year, which I think is real good, is they started at the end of the point standings and sent those cars through the template room first.

"Inspectors with different responsibilities start in different places in the point order to keep from running over each other as they make their rounds, to keep a constant flow."

8:41 a.m. The car's hood is down as an inspector stops by to measure the opening of the exhaust header, the window openings and several dimensions inside the car's cockpit.

8:47 a.m. The car's fuel "can" -- the fuel cell and the assembly that holds it in the rear of the car -- is removed from the car and propped on a trash barrel at the rear of the car.

The vehicle comes to the track with the fuel can assembly detached and riding in the trunk as it is inspected before each event.

A crewman vigorously grinds away on part of its bracketing as a trio of inspectors work at the rear of the car and check the 13.5-gallon capacity of the cell. After they're done crewmen begin reassembling it.

"They hold us to a certain height on everything," McSwain said. "And instead of coming in exactly at that height (because) the way they check it might be different than the way we've checked it, we'll come a little bit too tall on our brackets and then grind 'em until they're happy with 'em -- just so we don't give up anything on the fuel (capacity)."

8:50 a.m. McSwain opens the hood in the company of the engine tuner and describes some changes he'd like to make around the cowl opening at the back of the hood. Together, they exert some four handed force to reshape the metal for emphasis.

9:05 a.m. A crewman begins installing the car's wheels. Once a certain number of checks on the paperwork have been completed in the garage, the car is free to join the line to the template room. Cars that are the furthest down the point chart are the first to head through the templates, per the design of the system.

	A Winston Cup official signs off on the No. 18 Chevrolet's Inspection as crew chief Michael McSwain looks on. Credit: Turner Sports Interactive

9:34 a.m. McSwain, brushing his face as if to remove an imaginary 5 o'clock shadow, tells his men he needs to go get his "head shot" portrait made by R.J. Reynolds' photographers.

"I don't need to wait until I look any worse," he says as he shuffles away.

10:15 a.m. Inspection can be all about hurry-up and wait. The team is in line to go to the Room. Not much to do at this point but lean on the car, be patient -- and in some cases, pray.

"It's probably different for people that haven't been doing it for a real long time," McSwain said, shrugging. "But for people that have been doing it for five or 10 years they know what it's like."

12:10 p.m. The car has moved about 150 yards from the last noted position. It is now second in line to get into the template room and sleepiness would best describe the demeanor of the crew.

"It's somewhat soothing sometimes," McSwain said of the delays. "It's just waiting around, waiting your turn -- typical Daytona -- so mentally you're prepared for this when you get here."

12:40 p.m. The car is next in line to enter the template room. Gibbs Racing's team manager Jimmy Makar, who had stood in McSwain' shoes as crew chief a year ago, seems to be in high spirits, despite having two cars to worry about.

"How different do I feel?" he said rhetorically. "I'm laughing, aren't I?"

1:15 p.m. The car has cleared the template and restrictor plate room and is into the scale house, where electronic scales compute the weight percentages of each corner of the car.

1:30 p.m. Car is into the "tail room" --- the final two-part stop of its journey. Here, it spends 15 minutes of tapping, adjusting and fitting of different templates, and where the rear spoiler is attached.

Finally it's pushed ahead to where wheelbase, camber and toe are checked.

1:47 p.m. Backs are being slapped all around.

"Where do we get the paperwork?" one crewman hollers. "Where's that sticker man?"

The car is pushed backwards out of the tail-check area and back toward the "height sticks," which check the roof height.

"Y'all look like y'all get outta here early," another team's mechanic says as he hustles past. "Nice job."

1:52 p.m. McSwain dances out of the height room with an orange ball affixed to his finger, waving his hand as if conducting an orchestra. Behind him, a line is still snaking out of the template room.

2:10 p.m. After another car clears the height room, the No. 18 is pushed back into the room.

2:13 p.m. The car passes all clearance and height checks and is pushed back outside the room. McSwain presents his inspection form, with all the proper initials, and an official affixes his signature and gives McSwain his copy.

"There's teams that work real hard for the purpose of breezing right through inspection," Darby said. "They don't want the aggravation of having to come down here and work on fixing things. They want to dedicate all their focus and time on going fast on the racetrack.

"If they have to separate that time fixing and rebuilding and repairing the cars it detracts from all that. There's a lot of teams that have made it through today on their very first attempt -- like this 18 team -- because they took the time to follow the new procedures and principles."

In the end, it paid off for the Gibbs crew.

"This is not just a job, it's a lifestyle," McSwain said. "It's a lot different than the average person thinks. Most of these guys have a week or two weeks off over the winter but the rest of the time they're doing their jobs just like everybody else does.

"They don't take the winter off like a lot of people think they do. It takes a special individual to do what we do. It takes a lot of dedication and I'm not sure we're all sane, all the time."

But one thing was sure on Friday evening -- they were satisfied.