Twenty-eight year old Michael O'Malley, a crewman on Kenny Irwin's No. 28 Ford, sits in the window of the car waiting for someone to bring back the ignition boxes. Like most of the crew members, O'Malley could do it with his eyes shut. The same guy is responsible for the same things every time. He knows what they should feel like, how they should tighten, how they shouldn't look. Taped to the side of most cars is a checklist, some five or six pages long.
Some checklists are on a clipboard, but every team has one.
It covers everything from making sure the rear bumper hasn't come loose to the front bumper hasn't come loose. Between, and around. Out on pit road, even as some crew members are working on the cars, others are setting up the pit stalls. There, the preparation is just as meticulous. He does even this mundane task with practiced precision.