Long haul to Mexico as winding as road course

They kissed wives and children goodbye the Monday after the opening event at Daytona International Speedway, and climbed into their big rigs for the longest haul of the NASCAR season.

No one knows what it takes to get to Mexico City better than transporter drivers in the Busch Series, whose circuitous route will span three races, two countries, and nearly 9,000 miles of highway.

Sunday's race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is the easy part. The hard part is the getting there and the getting ready and the getting back, something Busch teams have been working on since before last season ended. Cars for three races -- California, Mexico City, and Las Vegas -- have to be prepared well in advance. Customs forms and passport applications have to be filled out. Extra trucks, additional insurance, and meeting sites in Texas have to be arranged.

Mechanics are putting in long hours, truck drivers are putting in hard miles, and team executives are writing big checks long before the green flag flies in Mexico.

"When we did this deal the first year, we pretty much thought it was going to be impossible. Now, after doing it a couple of years, it's definitely easier. But as far as on the travel crew, the truck drivers, time away from their families, preparation of the racecars, it is a stress and a strain," said Trent Owens, crew chief on Dave Blaney's car at Braun Racing.

"It has the shop crew even working on Saturdays and Sundays to get the cars where they need to be. We're working 7-to-7 and going to the racetrack and doing all that work as well. And then our shop crew, they're working Saturdays and Sundays just to get the cars out of here to meet up in Texas. It's definitely a pull on the whole operation, still."

That pull began in earnest the day after the Daytona 500, when the primary and backup cars for last week's race at California Speedway were loaded into team transporters. For drivers like Dan Collins and Troy Cole, who haul Shane Huffman's No. 88 cars around the country for JR Motorsports, it was the last time they'd see North Carolina until after next weekend's race weekend in Las Vegas.

On Monday morning, Collins and Cole stopped in south Texas to meet with another hauler, this one borrowed from Ken Schrader, carrying Huffman's primary and backup cars for Mexico City. The trucks swapped cars, and the borrowed one headed back to Mooresville, N.C., while the Navy hauler made for Laredo, Texas, and a secured UPS facility where all the Busch transporters met to cross the border. (Continued)