by Larry McReynolds

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The crew members' ability to focus on what their driver needed demonstrated championship form. They will pull out all of the stops week in and week out, whether it's the Daytona 500, Martinsville in April or somewhere else later in the season. They will do whatever they have to do to give Martin the best equipment that they can.

With their performance during Speedweeks, the 6 team made a statement to Martin and the other competitors that they plan to be a contender in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

As a crew chief, I've been where the 6 team has been many times. Maybe not to that degree with a car that probably should have been put on the truck, but your driver's frame of mind is 60 to 70 percent of the battle. When he's confident and believes in something, nine out of 10 times, you're probably better off following his lead. I don't know how many times I told Davey Allison that I wanted to do two tires. He would say, "Larry, give me four!" I knew in his voice that he was not going to have a lot of confidence in two tires, and when he felt strongly about something, it usually was the right move.

Crew chiefs take charge

At the end of the Daytona 500, there were several cautions, and crew chiefs have to be cheerleaders and coaches under the yellow flag because that's when drivers can start thinking about what could happen on the track. Is my car good enough to beat them, and can I, as a driver, beat them? A driver's focus can dip down a little bit under caution so it's the crew chief's job from green flag to checkered flag to keep the driver and the team pumped up. Even if the crew had a bad last pit stop, you have to tell them to shake it off and rip off a pit stop that can make the difference.

All of the drivers in the top 10 at the end of the race were foaming at the mouth, and nobody was thinking about big picture racing. But once the checkered flag waved, and the drivers got to pit road, everybody who finished second through 10th or 12th thought, "This is a good start. We didn't tear up our car, and we built some momentum as we head toward Fontana next week."

Biggest little story

There were a lot of big stories all week at Daytona, but I just don't know that anybody realizes how big Kevin Lepage's story is. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Lepage drove his tractor trailer home on Sunday night after the race.

It's just a phenomenal story because that car had never been in the wind tunnel. They almost didn't make it to Daytona for the January test session. Lepage works on the car day and night with the other eight full-time guys in their shop, and his wife is his spotter. Just making it to Daytona is a big deal let alone qualifying for the Daytona 500 and finishing ninth. But commitment, passion, focus and a never-give-up attitude earned them a top-10 finish.

Why not the "Daytona 500 of football"?

The NASCAR on FOX crew walked away feeling good about our broadcast on Sunday because it was just great to have the Daytona 500. Last year, we didn't have the Daytona 500, the Brickyard 400 or any of the Chase for the Nextel Cup races. But this year's Daytona 500 was a little extra special because it came on the heels of the inaugural Chase, which sparked a lot of interest falling into this race.

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Sitting in the booth about 30 minutes before the green flag, chills went up and down my spine as I watched Nextel's Tribute to America. It had the big event feel to it that I saw at the Super Bowl in Jacksonville two weeks earlier. Then during the race, FOX and NASCAR executives allowed coordinating director Artie Kempner, coordinating producer Richie Zyontz and race producer Neil Goldberg to give us unbelievable camera shots. The Cablecam and shots from under the guardrail at about track level were just unbelievable.

All of these enhancements along with several storylines helped Sunday's Daytona 500 tie for the highest rating for a NASCAR race. The final Great American Race for Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin sparked some interest. Dale Earnhardt Inc. was not looking too good a week ago, and then all of the sudden, they looked strong. And people tuned in asking, "Can Dale Earnhardt Jr. win back-to-back Daytona 500s?" We had the first green-white-checkered in Daytona 500 history with 23 cars going after the win as they came off of Turn 4.

FOX Sports Chairman David Hill and FOX Sports President Ed Goren may think I'm out of my tree, but after years of referring to the Daytona 500 as the "Super Bowl of racing", I want to grow NASCAR to the point where other sports will say their big event of the year is "the Daytona 500 of our sport".

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FOX race analyst Larry McReynolds has more than 25 years of NASCAR experience as a mechanic, crew chief and broadcaster. He and his fellow Crew Chief Club members take you behind the wall at www.crewchiefclub.com.

"Larry McReynolds: The Big Picture" is on bookstore shelves now, or you may order your own autographed copy from www.DWStore.com.