They may not have gotten behind the wheel this past weekend, but two visiting Australian veteran racers thoroughly enjoyed their experience watching NASCAR racing at Daytona International Speedway.<\/p>\n
Former Australian Supercars drivers Scott Pye and Elliot Barbour related much of what they experienced on this week\u2019s edition of the Stacking Pennies podcast with Corey LaJoie and Skip Flores.<\/p>\n
Both drivers not only enjoyed the overall experience, they also reunited with longtime friend Shane van Gisbergen, who they previously raced with in Supercars before SVG came to race in NASCAR.<\/p>\n
A native of Adelaide, Australia, Pye has a lengthy racing resume including starting with go-karts, had aspirations of driving in Formula 1, won the British Formula 4 championship, upgraded to Formula 3 and then returned to his native land to race Supercars.<\/p>\n
Barbour<\/a><\/strong>, meanwhile, has raced in Supercars and Super 2 (essentially the minor league of Supercars), as well as the TA2 Trans Am series. He\u2019s raced against a number of notables from his native land, including SVG (who Pye has also raced against overseas) and Team Penske IndyCar driver Scott McLaughlin.<\/p>\n And together, both Pye and Barbour host one of the more popular racing podcasts in their native land called \u201cApex Hunters United,\u201d where they talk about not only Australian racing, but also Formula 1, NASCAR and IndyCar.<\/p>\n Daytona was an interesting experience for both<\/p>\n Pye<\/a><\/strong> had previously attended a Cup race at Las Vegas, but let\u2019s just say it was a kind of foggy experience, as he went to the race still feeling the after-effects of a bachelor party the night before in Sin City.<\/p>\n Barbour, who hails from Melbourne, Australia, has previously seen two NASCAR races, one in Phoenix in 2014 and more recently at Homestead-Miami.<\/p>\n When they drove to Daytona last weekend, a mutual friend told them to take in the beauty of the track, especially the grandstands and how high they rose from the ground.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were probably a mile away from the gate and you can see it, and we\u2019re like, \u2018We don\u2019t have this in Australia,\u2019\u201d Barbour quipped<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Pye added, \u201cThe size of the (grand)stand and the (track) banking impressed me.\u201d <\/p>\n Another thing that impressed Barbour was, \u201cWhen you drive through the tunnel (at Daytona), all the campers and all that stuff, it\u2019s like a town in itself. Bathurst (a track in Australia) is kind of like that, where people camp, they set up their cool little setups and they got flags and all that stuff and barbecues going.<\/p>\n \u201cBut to me it felt like on another level like you\u2019ve got massive RVs. People don\u2019t tailgate in Australia (whereas) they tailgate for 4 days at Daytona.\u201d<\/p>\n They got to hang out a lot with their good buddy, SVG<\/p>\n Naturally, both Aussies were asked about their buddy, SVG, who they hung out with at Daytona, including standing next to him on the frontstretch<\/a><\/strong> during the U.S. National Anthem.<\/p>\n \u201cI think what\u2019s unique for Shane, like what probably makes him extra special compared to just all the good guys, what probably separates him, it does seem to be his like spare capacity while he\u2019s driving the race car,\u201d Pye said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat ability like you know you see the thumbs up out the window. I think he\u2019s doing that to wind people up, too. (Spare capacity means) some guys you\u2019ll see struggle to look out the front window, let alone check their mirrors.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like they\u2019re using everything in their mind to drive the car fast and that\u2019s what they\u2019ve got. And you see it with guys that get caught up in wrecks a lot. Like even on the ovals, you don\u2019t see him (SVG<\/a><\/strong>) wreck a lot for someone who\u2019s learning. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd I think that\u2019s the awareness. It\u2019s like things slow down for him. And I think he has the ability to do that whether it\u2019s in a pack late in a race when you\u2019re trying to pass someone, setting him up.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like Shane\u2019s kind of had that like as long as I\u2019ve known him, he\u2019s had that ability to slow things down, make the right calls, processing speed as a leader. <\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s where he\u2019s been really strong in Australia like our long races like Bathurst as an example where strategy comes in. Shane would almost be dictating back to his crew on what he thought would be the best option with tires that\u2019s while he\u2019s going Mach 10 across the top of the mountain.\u201d<\/p>\n