'A long night' at LMS from viewpoint of 00 war wagon

The Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway is just moments old, and already, there's a flurry of discussion taking place on top of David Reutimann's war wagon. In the stands, flashbulbs are still popping like so many mad fireflies.

After starting the race 20th in the middle of the pack, Reutimann has slapped the wall between Turns 3 and 4 on the very first lap of the race. Almost instantly, crew chief Frank Kerr is on the radio and asking about the No. 00 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota's steering.

00 crew chief Frank Kerr

For the rest of the night, the top of this war wagon is command central, an exercise in crisis management. Then again, it's those things, and more, in every other race of the season. Things happen quick up here.

Down below, Reutimann's crew stands on pit wall, waiting in what appears to be quite nervous anticipation. They shift from one foot to the other, they move, they squat, they twist. And then here comes Reutimann, tearing into pit stall 31, to the Turn 4 side of the start-finish line. There's damage to the right front of the car, and Kerr orders the crew into action.

"I want everybody over there pulling on that fender," he says, and from the tone of his voice, it's clear that it's not a question. Taking on fresh right-side tires -- how worn could they be, just two or three laps into the race? -- Reutimann beats the pace car off pit road to stay on the lead lap.

The problem is not fixed. After rejoining the field, Reutimann calls in with more bad news.

"It's dragging the track real bad," he tells Kerr and anybody else who happens to be listening. NASCAR waves off the green flag, allowing Reutimann to make another stop. Again, Kerr is in field-marshal mode, imploring the over-the-wall guys to get the damaged fender away from the right-front tire.

Reutimann comes onto pit road, and Kerr counts down the stalls as he will on every stop for the rest of the night, "Five ... four ... three ... two ... one. Keep the wheels straight and your foot on the brake." The crew leaps into action and does what it can to get its car back into better working order. On the restart, Reutimann is 43rd, dead last.

"Keep digging," Kerr tells his rookie driver. "Maybe we'll catch a caution."

Lap 12

NASCAR inspector Lou Williams climbs halfway up the ladder on the war wagon to talk with Kerr. They finish their discussion, and Kerr is back on the radio with Reutimann. He asks if the repairs and chassis adjustments they've made have done any good.

They haven't.

"It's not getting any better at all," Reutimann says, the frustration in his voice clearly evident. Four laps later, he is more than three seconds behind the next-to-last-place car and more than 22 behind leader Jimmie Johnson. This ... this is not good. Finally, Reutimann and Kerr catch a break when David Ragan hits the frontstretch wall.

"We got our caution," Kerr radios Reutimann.

On pit road, Dave Blaney and his Bill Davis Racing team are situated one stall behind Reutimann. Blaney comes in and stops at an odd angle, forcing Reutimann to take an even worse approach into his assigned space. In the process ... good Lord ... he couldn't have missed Blaney's jackman, Kyle Roland, by six inches. If that.

Checking out the view from atop a cozy pit box is one thing, but there's not enough money in the world to get this mere mortal out there doing what these guys do. Roland never flinched.

Once back on the track, Kerr has shifted back into his role as motivational speaker. "Stick with it," Kerr tells Reutimann. "We'll catch another caution.

Reutimann is 41st.

Lap 39

Things are looking up, for the time being at least. Reutimann has caught the tail end of the pack, and he passes first Jeremy Mayfield and Juan Montoya. It's a small victory, but a victory nonetheless. He's still on the track, still digging.

It's a team effort. Mark MacCaull, the team engineer, is seated to the left of Kerr and in front of one of the four scoring monitors set up on top of the war wagon. MacCaull is constantly taking notes, both on a clipboard and his laptop computer. Dale Jarrett has not qualified for this race, so his team engineer, Billy John, is up here as well.

So is Christopher Smith, with Toyota Racing Development, but he comes and goes at various points during the night. Brian Kincheloe is Reutimann's tire specialist, and he is up and down the ladder or handing Kerr his tire notes from down below. Throughout the night, Kerr, MacCaull, John and Kincheloe huddle on what's taking place with Reutimann's car.

Ten laps after getting around Mayfield and Montoya, the race seems to have settled into a rhythm. The guys on top of the pit box are waiting and watching. On Lap 60, they watch as Reutimann loses a lap to Johnson.

Lap 67

When Casey Mears wrecks, Reutimann misses the "Lucky Dog" pass to get his lap back by one car. He pits and the crew pounds the daylights out of the remaining damage on the right front. They take their time to do it right.

Jeff Burton is pitted in front of Reutimann, and Burton's crew is miffed at the way Reutimann leaves after his stop. They wave their arms a bit, but as confrontations go, it's very minor.

These things happen on pit road.

While they've got some time, MacCaull wants Reutimann to come back in so the toe-in can be checked on the left side of the car. The hood goes up, and a long rail-looking contraption goes onto pit road and is placed on the length of the left side. Reutimann is 36th on the restart.

Lap 77

The yellow flag is still waving when Kerr starts planning what to do.

Two tires. Work on the right side only. Track bar down. A quickie yellow.

Wait. The situation dictates no tires. Just check the toe again and give it a shot of gas. One round down on the track bar.

It's amazing how quickly decisions are made on top of the pit box. At one point during this caution, there are seven people up here and more than half appear to have some sort of say in what's happening.

In the end, however, it's Kerr's decision.

As pit boxes go, Reutimann's is probably in the upper third on pit road in terms of size and amenities. Kerr's headset is attached by cord to a pole at the back of the box that's got to be every bit of 30 feet tall, at the top of which is an antenna. The war wagon's main body has the requisite monitors for watching the television feed and video playback for pit stops.

There's no awning on top like there are for other teams, but it doesn't rain ... it never rains in North Carolina these days ... so it's not a problem. The top of the box folds out to allow a second tier of bench seats, and there's no bracing underneath. Surely, the laws of physics would say that it'll tip over with people on the observation deck. It doesn't, which speaks to the sheer size and weight of the main body.

The war wagon is an absolutely amazing place from which to watch a race. When Reutimann comes in, there's an almost pulsating energy to the orchestrated chaos taking place on pit road. Someone throws a crew member a mallet to pound out damage, and it seems to almost float through the air in its perfect head-up, shaft-down arc.

In the minutes before the green flag and early in the race, there's a parade of women who are quite plainly doing everything they can do to be seen behind pit road. One ... one is wearing an ensemble of faded black jeans that must've been sprayed on and a red T-shirt ... and decidedly, no underwear. Over that, is a short jacket with a fur collar. It is quite comical as she takes her stroll to see heads turn, one right after the other.

Next to the definition of "pit lizard" in the dictionary, there's a picture of this woman.

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.