This One's For The Girls
The Auto Club 400 was in progress, much to the delight of the 92,000 fans who had packed the Fontana Speedway. So far, the race had been brutal, with several cars knocking themselves out early on. Stacy Rowe had started on the first row and had been able to avoid most of the chaos. After a shaky pit stop on lap ninety, Stacy dropped to tenth, but quickly used her four new tires to her advantage. Around lap 130, she did swap a little paint with Juan Pablo Montoya to climb back into third. There were still seventy laps to go, and she starting to talk to her crew chief as they talked about gas and tires strategy. That's what she loved about her crew chief; she analyzed the race like a chess match, planning moves in advance. A caution flag with thirty laps to go ended up being their window of perfect opportunity. With a much smoother tire change, she exited the pits with a full tank of gas and another set of tires. She was still sitting at third place, behind Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards.
With ten laps to go, Edwards started to bump draft Stewart to get into the number one spot. That's when Stacy made her move. As Edwards and Stewart battled low, Stacy gunned her hot pink Cover Girl sponsored #25 Chevy and headed towards the rail. Seeing that she had the edge, she quickly got back into the middle of the track and held the two men off in a stunning victory. For her usual victory celebration, she performed a smiley face burnout as the crowd went wild. Climbing out of her car, she was greeted with cheers and flowers. She was soon flanked by reporters everyone.
"Miss Rowe - this is your third victory so far and the season is still young. Do you think you have what it takes to be in the Chase at the end of the season?" One reporter asked.
"I think so - I'm a part of a good team and my crew chief is one of the best in the business - so not only do I expect to be in the chase - I plan on being number one when it's all said and done," Stacy answered.
"With seven victories in your short career, you've quickly taken over Danica Patrick's role as NASCAR's beauty. How do you feel about that?"
"I would rather be seen as a role model to young girls. I want them to see that if I can be a key player in this male dominated sport by working hard and surrounding themselves with the right people, then they can achieve anything."
"That is so true. Your team is the first in NASCAR history to not only have a female driver, but a female Crew Chief, and a female head mechanic. We just heard from the booth that today is your thirtieth birthday. Is that correct?"
Stacy blushed slightly and nodded. "Yes - and I couldn't have found a better way to celebrate it than being here in Victory Lane with these crazy California fans behind me," She turned and gave them a big wave and smile as the cheering intensified.
After taking a few pictures, shaking some of the other drivers and fans hands, Stacy finally was able to go to the garage. Waiting for her was her crew chief and her mechanic.
"Sorry about that one stop - we will work on that over the next week."
"No sweat, Jane. The last one was flawless so it was the one that mattered," Stacy said.
"Great job out there," her crew chief said while handing her a birthday card, "Now - onto Martinsville. Short tracks wins are going to be the key into getting us in the chase. Make sure you get plenty of rest tomorrow and Tuesday, because qualifying is Wednesday."
"Yes, mom," Stacy turned to Daria with a smirk.
"Why did I agree to take this job again?" Daria said as she shook her head and laughed.
End