At first glance, the life of a NASCAR wife might appear fast-paced and glamorous. Weekends spent crisscrossing the country settling in lavish digs, dining at white-tablecloth restaurants.

This might be the life for a select few; however, the majority of NASCAR wives lead very normal lives. They grocery shop, raise kids, host block parties in the neighborhood and pick up the dry cleaning.

Amanda and Wyatt Sadler

“

Elliott has been racing since he was 7 years old, that's what makes it hard ... all I can do is very quietly try to reassure him. That, and we try to separate racing from our home life.

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-- AMANDA SADLER

And with that normal existence comes life's perceivably normal tribulations. Balancing the family budget, keeping the kids healthy and carving out time for church on Sunday.

So, life goes on. But what if your husband loses his job? Not your husband the police officer, banker, the teacher or the firefighter, your husband the race car driver. When that happens, no amount of normalcy can ease the pain of the process.

"When my husband got let go it wasn't like getting fired from a job, it was worse than that," said Jami McDowell, wife of Michael McDowell. "It was like the world was saying, 'Hey, you're not good enough.' Being the wife through that is difficult because even though you tell him he is perfect it just doesn't match up to what everyone else in the world thinks."

Michael McDowell entered NASCAR with big promises via a lucrative contract with Michael Waltrip Racing, which unfortunately ended shortly after it was signed in 2008. Since then, McDowell's original six-figure NASCAR salary has dwindled to no figures as he has bounced back and forth between various teams that lack sponsorship and resources.

"Mike is making zero dollars in the Nationwide Series and he is still going to do some races and start-and-parks in the Cup Series; but really he just wants to keep his name out there," Jami said.

Her husband's dream job is now just a job.

So many young, new couples come to NASCAR with big plans and high hopes and then just as soon as the dust settles on the new house plans change. Justin and Ashley Allgaier are all too familiar with that scenario.

"When Justin signed with Penske Racing, he thought it would be forever," said Ashley, 24. Penske told her husband that he was free to look for another ride last month after losing Verizon as a sponsor.

"In the beginning I handled it better than he did. For the first few weeks he was a bear to live with. I don't think he understood what to do," Ashley said. "Now it's reversed. I can't get my brain around our finances, you know if we have to live off our savings."

The racing couple will learn to lean on each other until the future is decided, and Ashley is confident her husband will find something.

But being the wife of a driver facing a potential existence outside the race car is difficult.

You have to find the right words of comfort, know when to offer them and at what time. You must perfect the skill of reassuring and rebuilding a badly bruised ego and at the end of the day the best tool is avoidance and distraction, according to Jami McDowell.

Her remedy: Family. The couple's first son, Trace, is almost 2 years old and they're in the process of adopting more children from Africa.

"We've always wanted a big family and we aren't going to put our lives on hold because racing isn't going the way we thought," she said. (Continued)