"My day will come eventually. It's all about reps right now."

Again, there are things about NASCAR life that aren't all that different from college football life.

The truth is, pit crews these days are filling up more and more with former college athletes. That's something apparently realized by recently graduated Husker defensive end Jack Gangwish, who has said he'd be interested in being on a pit crew if professional football doesn't work out for him.

"The idea of being part of a team like that and continuing to train athletically and working on specific techniques, that's something appealing to me," Gangwish said.

It was appealing to Nick Covey, a Husker from 2005-09, who had his football career bogged down by five surgeries during his time in Lincoln. He did come across a life-changing email while he was here, though. An email about pit crew tryouts.

Covey is now the jack man for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Every job is important. Stoddard is the rear-tire carrier. He puts the right- and left-rear tires on the car, making one out of three possible adjustments called on by the crew chief. Speedy adjustments. When you jump over that wall, every hundredth of a second matters.