LOUDON, N.H. -- Stanton Barrett's qualifying speed for Saturday's Nationwide Series race wasn't as fast as he had hoped. But it was easy to understand why his thoughts might have been far away from New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Barrett and the rest of his No. 30 Ski Motorsports team were rocked Thursday with the news that car chief Jason Arden had been killed in an early-morning automobile accident near Mooresville, N.C. Although details of the accident were not available Saturday, a team representative indicated that the 28-year-old from Gurnee, Ill., overcorrected after running off the road and slammed into a ditch. But there was no doubting the impact the news had on mechanics and crewmen in both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup garage areas.

“

He loved to live. It wasn't about success, it was about doing what he enjoyed and living life and being around friends that meant something to him.

”

STANTON BARRETT

"This is a very tight-knit community. Regardless of whether or not you know people, you're around them, and you see everybody in the garage every week," said Barrett, who had been close friends with Arden. "Even though they may not be on your team or you may not know them, they're kind of a family member in the community. I think those kinds of losses are widespread. It impacts everyone a little bit."

That much was clear Saturday. Arden had previously worked at Robby Gordon Motorsports and Michael Waltrip Racing, and left behind many friends. Barrett said Arden had been living with Erik Darnell, a Craftsman Truck Series driver at Roush Fenway Racing. Chris Hall, a front-end mechanic with Waltrip's team, had been Arden's roommate last year. The call with the tragic news came early Thursday morning.

"I got a phone call at like 6:46 Thursday morning. People don't call at 6.45 on your day off. It gives me chills just thinking about it," Hall said.

"He was a great, spirited guy. He was always smiling, a hard worker. The best word I can use to describe him is motivated, no matter what we did. He loved working on racecars. He had aspirations of eventually owning his own business and stuff. He always smiled. No matter what the situation was, he smiled all the time."

Hall remembered Arden coming to the track in his special "rain shoes" last year, to try and save the Waltrip team the effort of qualifying once they had fallen outside the top 35 in owner points. Barrett can relate.

"I was going through all of my pictures last night, a few of the memorial cards and things, and in every picture you see, you see him with a smile on his face," he said. "He loved to live. He enjoyed playing video games, he enjoyed playing pool, he enjoyed walking down the street, he enjoyed talking to a random person, he enjoyed working on the racecar, whatever it was ... It wasn't about success, it was about doing what he enjoyed and living life and being around friends that meant something to him. Yeah, I think everybody will remember a smile on his face, and I know I will for sure."

Barrett's No. 30 carried a small black and white sticker honoring Arden just above the driver's side window. Flyers with a picture of Arden and information on a Monday afternoon memorial service at the Waltrip shop have been posted around both Nationwide and Sprint Cup garage areas. In lieu of flowers, donations are being sought via the Web site 4caring.org to help the family pay for funeral costs.

"There's not much you can do," Barrett said. "Condolences and prayers, and that's all. You've got to keep moving on, do your best and pay attention. It might be your last day, or someone else's. I'd like to remind people to think about how they treat somebody. It may be the last time you say a word to them. Life's too short to not be happy and passionate about what you do and to treat people the best you know how."

But moving forward isn't easy for the Ski Motorsports team. Arden was the team's chief organizer and behind-the-scenes leader, Barrett said. The racetrack brings long, solitary stretches in the motor home, and ever-present reminders of his lost friend.

"I'm happy I got to be a part of his life, I'm happy I got to be in a racecar. I'm going to try and have fun because that's what he'd want," Barrett said. "The last thing he'd want is you mourning around about him. I'd feel more guilty if I didn't try to enjoy myself and give my best to my crew and do my best in the racecar. That's all you can do. It's hard not to think about it. You're going to think about it."

So is Will Lynn, a mechanic who met Arden years ago when the two worked on dirt cars and followed him into NASCAR's upper levels.

"Probably one of the hardest things I've ever had to do was walk through those gates this weekend, but he wouldn't have wanted it any other way," Lynn said. "... He would have definitely made a good crew chief down the road. It's just hard to lose somebody like that."