'A long night' at LMS from viewpoint of 00 war wagon (cont'd)

Lap 90

Reutimann brushes the wall again and Kerr sees it.

"Did it help it, getting into the wall?" Kerr asks.

David Reutimann finished 29th in the Bank of America 500.

Something must've happened, because Reutimann is getting faster. He's still in 35th place, but he's now just a half-second off Johnson's pace. A little more than 10 laps later, his times are down to just three-tenths or so slower than Johnson's.

Under a debris caution, Kerr decides to take on four tires, fuel and to adjust the track bar one round down and, "for the hell of it," to take some wedge out. The crew is not nearly so jumpy as it waits for Reutimann. On the restart, the Florida native is 37th.

On the next restart, Reutimann is 37th.

"We're all in this together," Kerr tells his people.

On the restart after that, Reutimann is 37th.

"Guys, we are racing at this particular moment," Kerr offers in an effort to rally the troops.

Finally, after stopping during yet another caution, Kerr tells his driver, "You're doing a great job with everything we've had to fix." He has gone back and forth between commander-in-chief and cheerleader all night and, most of the time, in the matter of just a few seconds. Want to know what pressure is?

Try being a crew chief.

Lap 189

All of a sudden, Reutimann peels off the track and onto pit road. He's got a tire down on the right side. One lap later ... one lap ... Bill Elliott spins into the wall between Turns 3 and 4. The way the field has sorted itself, Reutimann loses only one position.

Lap 207

Waltrip and John Andretti wreck on the frontstretch, and from this vantage point, it looks -- and sounds -- to be a bad one.

Waltrip slides sideways onto the grassy area separating the frontstretch from pit road, and when he hits the asphalt from the facility's quarter-mile track, all four tires go simultaneously and very briefly airborne. Then, with a headset on and over the roar of the race, the impact of Andretti's car with the wall sounds like the muffled whack of a pillow.

Surely, Andretti is hurt. But, no. He walks to an ambulance.

Kerr tells Reutimann that they're going to take fuel only, adding that they're going to "ride this thing out a little bit. Whaddya think, buddy?"

They take on four tires and Reutimann winds up 35th on the restart, and 34th on the next two, the first of which takes out Chaser Matt Kenseth and the second, Johnson. Kerr implores Reutimann, "Try to hang on."

Reutimann takes four tires and fuel under a Lap 279 caution for an accident involving Montoya and Scott Riggs, and it would appear that the crew's work is done for the night.

"We can make it to the end right here with this stop," Kerr says, a hint of relief in his voice. On the restart, Reutimann is 32nd.

Lap 322

Johnny Sauter loops his car off Turn 4 and there's also fluid on the track, so the red flag comes out with exactly 10 laps to go.

Kerr has already been a general and motivational speaker tonight, and during the 12-minute red flag, he's a pissed-off parent. One of his crew members doesn't stop after bumping into a fan behind pit road. A NASCAR official sees it and tattles.

The race has already had more than its fair share of frustrations, and this is one more thing to deal with. Kerr is not happy and when he gets through with the poor guy, he's not happy, either. He climbs back down the ladder, where the rest of the crew is gathered to see what's going on. He's just been reprimanded in front of God and everybody ... literally.

Ouch.

Lap 332

Leader Ryan Newman wrecks, setting up a green-white-checkered finish. Reutimann is 29th on the restart, and the record book will forever show that that's where he finishes. All that work, all that effort, for 29th.

Kerr takes off his headset and turns to leave, then smiles a wan smile.

"It's been a long night," he says. And, indeed, it has been.