DARLINGTON, S.C. -- David Stremme was at a racetrack before he could walk.

As an infant, his mother would place cotton in his tiny ears to protect him from the loud engines of the Street Stocks at local tracks in South Bend, Ind.

As a toddler, the Mottville Speedway was his playground where he would roll his matchbox cars up and down the metal grandstands.

This was the life of a boy whose mother was a determined racecar driver.

Her rearing and careful guidance would shape Stremme's future and foray into the world's most popular form of racing: NASCAR.

Before the green flag drops Sunday on the Dodge Avenger 500, Cindy Stremme, a long-time racer in Northern Indiana, will be there to walk her son across the driver's stage -- a Mother's Day present hallmarking a one-of-a-kind relationship between a mother and son.

"I'm so pleased to be able to be up there with him," Cindy said. "I remember his first real Busch race, 2003 in Nashville. That was a good one. I usually don't get too emotional, I don't carry on. But by the end of the first lap, listening to him on the radio, I just started to bawl. My kid made it. My kid!"

Arguably one of the biggest surprises in the Cup Series so far this season with seven top-20 finishes and five of 13th or better, including a career-best eighth at Talladega, Stremme, driver of the No. 40 Dodge at Chip Ganassi Racing, is definitely making it.

The performance is a much-needed turnaround compared to last season where his average finish was 26th. But a momentum shift late last season would carry into this season, and with that came a dose of confidence Stremme so badly needed to affirm his position in the sport's top-tier series.

"He has a new spring in his step. He found a little bit of confidence and confidence begets more confidence. It has snowballed for David this season," Ganassi said.

And as much as his progress on the track has evolved, so has his relationship with his mother.

Before his NASCAR career began, the pair spent nearly every weekend together at tracks around the Midwest. David would race Street Stocks and Late Models, his mother as well, and sometimes even against one another. (Continued)