By: Kevin Modeszto | Publish Date: June 6th, 2026
For most of my life, mid-May was the beginning of the school year’s final stretch. The final green flag of a long season, the hustle and bustle of getting ready for final exams and project about to begin, when every decision matters that much more. As a college student, this time of year has become the first breath I had taken since spring break, like a cool down lap.
This year, mid-May looked like the former, full of hustle and bustle. Not of final exams or projects, but of being in a room surrounded by heroes of mine in the media center of Dover Motor Speedway. If this time of year was historically the final green flag, then became the cool down lap, then this was three-wide racing in the middle of the Daytona 500.
My Saturday, like every Saturday since 2021, was spent keeping up with whatever NASCAR races were on that weekend. Usually that meant podcasts and sitting by the TV, but now it meant running around the media center trying to get interviews with drivers during their media bullpen. Overall, I spoke to eleven different drivers, nine of which can be viewed on my YouTube channel.
One of the two that did not make it, because I forgot to clean my camera, was with my favorite driver, Joey Logano. I asked a simple question about his approach to the season in which he gave a simple answer. To him, this was one of a hundred questions he would answer, but to me this was a dream come true. This whole weekend was a dream come true. The weekend only lasted three days, but the story of how a 19-year-old college student from New Jersey sat in the same media center as some of the greatest sports reporters of our time is a story that began way beforehand.
My NASCAR Origin
During the final races of the 2020 season, a very close friend of mine, Jacob, regained his interest in NASCAR. He would tell me about it, and the stories of late race drama, legendary drivers looking for their last chance at glory, and young drivers looking to prove themselves as winners and champions sounded incredible, so I figured I would try watching it myself the following season. When I turned on the TV for the 2021 Daytona 500, I knew I had fallen in love.
Throughout the years, my love grew further. I found my driver, began building friendships based entirely on this sport, collecting diecasts and other merchandise, and started going to races in person. I love it so much, my bedroom is decorated with merchandise and it’s a running joke in my high school social circle that I own infinite racing t-shirts. New Jersey, and the Northeast as a whole, is not “NASCAR country”. There isn’t even a race in New Jersey.
As much as I love NASCAR, it is not my only love. On weekends, I love watching cars go fast, but on weekdays I love journalism. I am a journalism major who consistently writes for multiple outlets, and I am in the preliminary stages of a 10-month long research project based on filling gaps in local news. On a cold day in January, I received the text of a lifetime: The opportunity to bring both loves together.
Pace Laps: The Opportunity
Colin Ward, the Communications Manager at Dover and a former writer for The Tower, reached out to offer me a spot in the media center for the 2026 All-Star Race. I read the message, then I read it again, then a third time, then I asked my dad to read it. I didn’t think it was real, I could not believe that I just got an opportunity to combine my two favorite things.
It turned out that the opportunity was real. I told my parents, then my advisor for The Tower, and then had a phone call with Colin. I confirmed with all parties that this was a genuine possibility, then filled out the application for media credentials. Then, about two months later, I got another text from Colin that didn’t seem real.
“Hey brother! Officially went in and approved your credential request this morning. See you All-Star weekend!”
This was real. This was happening.
Stage 1: The Truck Series
On the day of the Craftsman Truck Series race, I hopped in the car, headed to the track, and got my credentials. I knew my next stop was the media center. I just had one question: How on Earth do you get to the media center?
I walked through the infield, taking in every moment and every sight. When I finally got to the media center, there was a press conference happening with Cup Series veteran Denny Hamlin. I had seen Hamlin on TV and watched him win in person multiple times; and I had seen these media personalities on social media for years. But rather than seeing them on social media or TV, I saw them with my own eyes.
I did not get to ask Hamlin a question, but I knew my chance was coming since the first media bullpen would start in about two hours. During that time, I got to meet some of the other journalists in the media center. Everyone (including Colin, who I finally met in person) I met patiently sat and listened to me ask a million questions and gave me tips and words of encouragement for talking to drivers. I was still nervous, but I knew I could do it and that my chance was coming any minute.
When the first driver entered, I was one of about ten journalists who swarmed over to interview him. I listened to my colleagues for the weekend ask their questions, and right at the end of his availability, I got to ask one myself. Throughout the rest of the session, I went to four or five other drivers and managed to ask two of them questions. Right as the metaphorical checkered flag flew on my first media session, the green flag flew for the race, which I was watching with a colleague from the roof of the media center. Everything was so exciting, and the racing had only just begun.
When I wrote my first draft of this story, I described this race as mostly uneventful because Kyle Busch dominated to secure his series-leading 69th win. Tragically, less than a week after this dominant win, Busch passed away from sepsis. I didn’t know it at the time, but I watched his final win in person. I saw his final bow, and the final trip to victory lane, in person. That fact has still not truly settled in my mind.
There was one major on track incident in the race, a spin and ultimate DNF by Dynasty Spurlock. My colleague and I ran to the media availability area for when drivers come out of the Infield Care Center for a chance to interview her. When we got there, there was only one other journalist waiting: Jeff Gluck. Gluck is one of the leading and most respected journalists in the NASCAR industry, and a personal hero of mine.
Spurlock addressed Gluck, a motorsports journalism giant, the exact same way she addressed me, with nothing but kindness and professionalism despite being out of her debut early. It was that moment that it began to sink in that I truly belonged there.
When the checkered flag flew, I stuck around for the victory celebration and was on my way out of the track. So much had happened since I came in, that I had completely forgotten how I came in. After quite a few of those wrong turns I mentioned, I eventually found my way out of the track.
Tomorrow was full of excitement, but right now was full of sleepy thoughts. I was exhausted from a long day and wanted to do nothing more than lie in bed.
Stage 2: The O’Reilly Series
I arrived back in the media center about an hour before the second of two bullpens. Before that, almost every driver came in and out of the media center. I looked down to work on something on my computer, looked up and saw a driver I’ve idolized for years, and this rinsed and repeated.
On the topic of idolized for years, I properly introduced myself to Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi, the NASCAR writers for The Athletic. When talking to Gluck, he seemed truly interested in who I, a college student from New Jersey new to the media center, was. Our conversation didn’t last long, but he did make it clear that he was available to me throughout the weekend.
The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race was more eventful than the NCTS race, with more incidents and Corey Day winning his second career race with a late pass on points leader and NOAPS veteran Justin Allgaier.
After the winner’s press conference, I saw on X that David Starr was called to pit road. I was unsure why, so I asked Gluck if he had heard anything. He had not. Breaking news to Jeff Gluck was one of the coolest parts of this weekend.
Stage 3: The Cup Series
I arrived back at the (much more crowded and chaotic) track for Stage 3 of my adventure. Immediately after I walked in, Gluck and Bianchi headed to their weekly “Tweetup” in the Fan Zone. I had been to a Tweetup as a fan, so walking to it with the hosts themselves joined the rather crowded list of things that didn’t seem real.
On Lap 2 of the main event, I saw a nine-car wreck happen right in front of me. The green flag was quickly followed by a red flag to aid Cole Custer and an on-fire Ryan Preece. Bubba Wallace won Segment 1 and Tyler Reddick won Segment 2, but it was Denny Hamlin on pole for Segment 3.
With less than 70 laps to go, I was sitting in the media center working on this very article. I was locked into my work, when I heard Mike Joy yell “TROUBLE TURN 2”. I knew this meant there was a caution, and a driver had spun out. I turned my head; I saw the spinner was none other than Logano.
I mentioned that Logano was my favorite driver, but I did not mention how much he meant to me. I cheered through his second and third championships in 2022 and 2024, I felt my stomach drop when he got eliminated in the opening round of the 2023 Playoffs, I have spent nearly a quarter of my life following his performance 38 weeks a year. The highlight of my weekend was asking him a question during the bullpen and seeing him crash out for the fifth race in a row quickly became the lowlight.
Logano’s race was over, but there was still one final run. Briscoe and Hamlin battled for the lead but it was the latter who drove off into the sunset to win his second career All-Star Race. Busch finished 17th-place in his final race.
Cool Down Laps: Leaving the Media Center and Reflections
On Friday, when I got here for the first time, I walked in during a press conference with Hamlin. And then, on Sunday, I got ready to leave for the last time during a press conference with Hamlin. My weekend started and ended in a very similar fashion, but the person experiencing them was very different, as I was a better and more confident journalist now.
I said goodbye to everyone I had met throughout that weekend, thanked Colin again, then took the long walk from the media center to the bridge to leave the infield. Like how my time in the media center came full circle, my first and last walk did as well; I felt a major mix of emotions on both. My walk on Friday was a mix of anxiety and excitement for the weekend of journalistic adventures ahead of me. My walk on Sunday was a mix of happiness and pride in the work I had done and experience I had gotten, and sadness that this adventure was ending.
I exited the gates and met my parents in the parking lot. I gave both a big hug, then drove off. I had done it. I covered a NASCAR weekend. Looking back on the whole weekend as I am writing this, it truly was an incredible opportunity that I am so incredibly thankful for.
I am a freelance NASCAR writer for Above the Yellow Line, an established content creation outlet, but I would love to be able to do this fulltime as a career. I just made my Cup Series debut, and I would love nothing more than for a team to take a chance on me fulltime.
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