The "Emotional" 312 - From the Stands

I think the word “emotional” is an understatement for how I felt on Saturday at the conclusion of the Aaron’s 312 at Talladega Superspeedway.  And after reading comments all day on social media yesterday from JCR fans, I think they would agree.  Saturday was a wild roller coaster of emotion.

On Saturday morning I jumped in the car with my son, so excited heading to Talladega Superspeedway for the Aaron’s 312.  The Team had unloaded chassis JCR-247, the superspeedway car, sporting a brand new motor for the weekend.  The Team was calling her “a Cadillac”.   Word from the track was that the Team was elated, walking through the garage area with a hop in their steps and a smile on their faces.  Even Jeremy Clements had tweeted, for the first time ever since his career start in NNS that he was “Going for the W!”  Provided we could miss “The Big One”, we had a real chance to get a win this weekend.  For our small, family owned, underfunded team, everything was right for a change and the excitement that a win was within reach was palatable.

Not needed in the pits this weekend, my son and I took our seats in the Tri-Oval Tower.  Great seats to see the whole track, and right across from the JCR pit box.   I am a true fan, dressed head to toe in my JCR Fan gear, with my radio on so I can hear Jeremy and Team during the race.   At the conclusion of the prayer before the start of the race, I added my own – that God would watch over Jeremy and the team.   I’ll admit, I tossed in “and a win would be great” at the end of that prayer.

On the very first lap, Jeremy took the No. 51 All South Electric / BRT Extrusions Chevrolet from a starting position of 33^rd to 10^th place.  I whipped my camera out as fast as I could to get a picture of the scoring tower!  He quickly fell back, keeping a close eye on the water temperatures.  Half way through the race, Jeremy started to move.  He apparently liked the middle lane, because that’s where he stayed most of the time. 

 

It got tense in the second half of the race.  Watching the No. 51 moving up, then back, like a yo-yo.  Up to 10^th, back to 15^th; up to 11^th, back to 13^th; up to 8^th, back to 12^th; and on it went, as it normally does in restrictor plate racing.  

The No. 51 running in 9th on lap 91

I’ve been a NASCAR fan most of my life, and have cheered on my favorite driver for years, but this was different.  This time it was “my” team.  This time I was cheering for the underdog; the little Team that could.   I was sitting on the edge of my seat, hands clasped, holding my breath most of the time.  My son couldn’t stay seated, standing most of the time with his hands clenched behind his head.   On lap 104, the scoring tower showed Jeremy running in 6^th.   Almost there!  The reality that Jeremy just may get that win brought tears to my eyes. 

Then it happened with 5 laps to go… The No. 51, running in 8^th,  got turned and shot head on into the outside wall, bouncing off the wall like a ping pong ball right back down the track.   My heart stopped.  Listening to the spotter trying to get Jeremy to respond and the silence that followed.  What was likely only a few seconds felt like an eternity, before we heard he got out of the car.   I was somewhat relieved, but still concerned if he was ok after a hit like that.  While the race was red flagged, the team started packing up and the radio went silent.  Now we had to rely on NASCAR and MRN to let us know if Jeremy really was ok.  Even my husband, watching the race on TV with friends, stayed in contact with me via text as we waited to hear something.  As the race went back to green, I turned to see tears running down my son’s face from behind his sunglasses.   “Why won’t anyone say anything about Jeremy, if he is ok!”  he said.

We were almost to back to the car, when we finally got word, thanks to a tweet by Chris Knight from Catchfence.com, that Jeremy had been released from the in-field care center. What a rush of relief! Since we were stuck in parking lot traffic anyway, I pulled out my phone and got to work reassuring fans that Jeremy was ok.  Hundreds of tweets and messages had poured in immediately following the wreck from fans that were just as frantic as I was to get word Jeremy was ok.

Heading home that night I heard from Jeremy via text, letting us know he is ok, just badly bruised and very sore.  

I have never watched, or been to, a race that has been so emotional for me, my own family, and I suspect from all the tweets and messages, so many other fans.   It took me an entire day on the couch to recover from the wave of emotions I had on Saturday.  But things are looking brighter for the JCR Team, so likely we will have more emotional races to come this season.  And I’m ready and excited!