Shelmerdine likes his spot in Daytona field

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Most of the drivers in the Daytona 500 spent Friday morning relaxing in their million dollar motorhomes, signing autographs or basking in the adulation of sponsor appearances.

Not Kirk Shelmerdine.

The man who will start next to last Sunday in “The Great American Race” was doing what he does just about every other day: working and sweating over his No. 27 Chevrolet.

The 47-year-old Shelmerdine, best known as the crew chief who helped Dale Earnhardt to four of his seven championships, has a lot of work to do, considering he has only two full-time employees.

He hired a third person to help out at Daytona. All four of them – dressed in nondescript T-shirts and jeans instead of the bright, pressed uniforms with sponsor logos that most Nextel Cup crews wear – were scurrying around the car Friday, preparing for practice.

Shelmerdine, hardly looking like a glamorous race driver, grimaced and bent into the engine compartment of the black and yellow car – reminiscent of the black No. 3s driven by Earnhardt.

“There’s a lot to do,” Shelmerdine said in a quiet voice. “It’s a big job.”

Nobody, not even Shelmerdine, gave him much chance of making the field for NASCAR’s biggest race. After last Saturday’s time trials, he was 32nd on the speed chart and seventh among the drivers who had to either drive into the race in one of Thursday’s 150-mile qualifying races or take one of the final four spots in the field on speed.

His place in the season opener wasn’t assured until Bill Elliott, Kevin Lepage and Robby Gordon, all ahead of him on speed, raced their way into the 500 in the 150s.

Even then, Shelmerdine didn’t think he had made it.

“I had my little list written on my hand in the car and was talking to the guys and kind of watching the field and I had it figured out who was doing what and who needed to finish where,” he said. “And I got it wrong.

“I lost a car somewhere. I figured I was out of it. I pulled into the garage and thought it was the close-but-no-cigar-again thing. I was kind of feeling about as down as you could feel.”

That’s when a NASCAR official told him to get in line for postrace inspection – meaning he had made the big show.

Shelmerdine said his stubbornness and moments like that are what keeps him going.

“You know, as you go through long dry spells, you kind of forget what brings you here, what keeps you here,” he said.

“The high spots are what does that. Winning championships and winning races and having the good runs and the things that are satisfactions that you can’t buy, those are the things that are nice to get refreshed every once in a while and remember, ‘Oh yeah, this is why we’re here.’ “

There was quite a bit of speculation Thursday that teams that hadn’t made the lineup — notably Scott Riggs in a new Evernham Motorsports entry — might wave enough cash in front of Shelmerdine to buy his spot in the race.

“I don’t think you could dynamite me out of this spot,” Shelmerdine said. “I’ll be glad to put a sponsor on the rear quarterpanel, though.”

How big is making the 500?

“Pretty big,” he said. “I don’t know how many more Daytonas I have in me, age-wise. And I’ve been trying to make it now for quite a few years. At this level, it’s pretty tall grass to be walking in.”