♪ ♪ (whirring) (whirring) (whirring) ♪ ♪ CURTIS WALLS (voiceover): A race is won by tenths of a second.

(racetrack humming) The pit crew can make or break any race at any time.

(machinery whirring) The ability for everybody to be able to be a little bit faster, a little bit more cleaner is truly the difference between a race.

PHIL HORTON (voiceover): That pressure really takes hold during a pit stop.

All 40 cars come down pit road at like 45 miles an hour at the same time.

Because you got one shot at it.

Nine seconds, that's about all you have.

Anything slower than that, and you're losing positions.

(air hissing) DANIELS (voiceover): It's a rush.

It's definitely an adrenaline rush.

(machines whirring) We are wearing our headsets.

We hear our crew chief make a call.

They're like, "All right now, the car is on pit road.

Get ready, we're ten pit stalls away."

You know, "Three, two, one, jumping over that wall."

(engines revving) (machines whirring) ♪ ♪ DANIELS: Good morning.

(laughs) HORTON: Hey, what's up.

What's up?

How many Daytona 500s have you done?

I think-- was it two so far, probably?

HORTON: Yeah, two.

Two.

DANIELS: Yeah, two.

HORTON: Yeah.

I thought it was three, though.

DANIELS: With me and Brea, and then... You're a... female pit crewman.

She's a female driver.

That's pretty big.

So if, so if you go up there and do a good job and all that comes together, that's going to be a pretty good story.

And then, of course, it'll be for Daytona.

It don't get no bigger than that.

And you just have to make sure you concentrate, do your fundamentals and, and, and... ...and be better.

DANIELS: Right.

You know, so that we can make it back to where you were before you got injured.

DANIELS: Mm-hmm.

HORTON: Like, get out of the camera.

(Brehanna chuckles) What are you doing?

Sit down.

Come on.

DANIELS: (laughs) Let's go.

♪ ♪ - Quad pull.

Quad pull.

Quad pull.

Quad pull.

DANIELS: Ugh, this is my... - Quad pull.

DANIELS: ...nemesis.

- I told you that.

HORTON: All right, listen up!

You know, the bottom line is, what?

We're getting ready for Daytona, right?

(overlapping chatter) HORTON: Huh?

All right.

It is what it is.

We got, what?

- We got three weeks!

HORTON: Yeah, we got three weeks.

DANIELS: Time is flying by.

HORTON: And we got to make it happen.

On three: Focus.

One, two, three... ALL: Focus!

HORTON (voiceover): So back in 1998 when I first started, the pit crewmen were mechanics.

One of my jobs was to come in and help them learn how to be athletes.

We got them to where they could do fast pit stops, but they couldn't do them in a timely fashion when the pressure was on during a race.

♪ ♪ WALLS (voiceover): One thing that all the coaches have realized is that in order to win races, we got to start recruiting these athletes.

Each position is very similar to that of football.

When you look at the carriers, you're talking about more stocky a person.

Stronger.

They can move very well.

(indistinct chatter, metal clattering) So you're talking about a, a running back, you're talking about a linebacker.

Then we talk about the jackman.

The jackman is somebody who's a little bit bigger.

They're very explosive, but they also have great leadership qualities.

You're talking about a quarterback.

(machines whirring) TRAINER: Hey, it's going to feel weird because you ain't been doing it!

It's going to feel weird because you ain't been doing it.

WALLS (voiceover): When you talk about a changer, you're talking about a wide receiver or a corner.

Somebody who's quick, somebody who's agile, somebody with good hand-eye coordination.

(machinery clacking, indistinct chatter) DANIELS (voiceover): I grew up not watching NASCAR at all.

TRAINER: Finish, finish!

DANIELS (voiceover): Now, why would I want to join a sport where there's not nobody there that looks like me.

ANNOUNCER (on loudspeaker): (indistinct) Time out!

DANIELS (voiceover): I've always been an athlete.

I think I started playing basketball when I was like four years old.

ANNOUNCER (on loudspeaker): Number 14, Brehanna Daniels.

(buzzer sounds) DANIELS (voiceover): I played point guard and shooting guard in college.

And, especially, being a point guard... ...most of us are like smaller.

You had to have the quick hands speed, short and low to the ground.

You had to be poised, patient.

(indistinct chatter) The same thing ties in to being a tire changer.

(machine whirring) The only thing that was different that I didn't know how to do was change tires.

♪ ♪ Us going to the track is based off like our practice performance, but there are people that I was better than in practice.

They will still get sent to the track over me.

I'm not working with those people anymore.

But I go to these teams when I'm new and I introduce myself.

I'm like, "Hey, my name is Brehanna.

I'll be your rear changer for the day."

And just even like with certain looks, you know, and just guys just thinking I can't do something because I'm a woman.

♪ ♪ It definitely is a pressure being a Black woman in, you know, the sport of NASCAR, having to be that voice.

On the hardest days or the lowest days of my life, I just look at it as being like another, uh, thing that I have to overcome.

♪ ♪ I just think like, "What would my mom do in this situation?"

♪ ♪ The strength of my mother was... ...so unreal.

She had breast cancer for most of our life.

She got diagnosed at 27, passed away at 38.

Almost around the age that I'm at now, I mean I'm 28 now.

♪ ♪ And just me thinking of her alone, just gives me the strength to keep going, whatever it is.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ So I got injured back in May of last year, and then that completely took me out for the rest of my NASCAR season.

♪ ♪ It was, like, throbbing, like just very, very painful.

Whatever it was, I knew it wasn't good.

♪ ♪ My knee started swelling up.

And then as soon as I, like, hopped to the front of the gym, I sat down, the pain, like, it was there.

I was hoping it was a meniscus tear, but it was an ACL tear, a full tear.

To make sure that it doesn't get stiff, let's do a little leg compression.

DANIELS: Okay.

We're going to have to push it, you know, for Daytona... DANIELS: At the track.

HORTON: ...your, you know, we can't baby it.

We're going to have to just go full throttle.

DANIELS: Mm-hmm.

HORTON: Just to make sure that, you know, nothing's going to come up.

DANIELS: Right.

Work hard in practice, and just like it was regular.

DANIELS (voiceover): Instead of trying to work out and doing things on my own at home, I, I went to Curtis and had him get me right.

(music playing) WALLS (voiceover): When we talk about getting Bre ready for Daytona, she doesn't have to conquer the world in one pit stop.

Being levelheaded, not allowing her emotions to overcome her.

You know, that's the ability for any athlete to shine.

I definitely have a fear that she can reinjure herself.

It's just because of the nature of the sport.

It's just the simple reality of being an athlete in a sport that's heavy on impact.

♪ ♪ DANIELS (voiceover): For months I couldn't get down in my tire changing position.

I couldn't even get down like on the ground.

And, like, just put that pressure on my leg without crying.

WALLS: Nice.

(voiceover): For a tire changer, our ability to hop off a wall, to sometimes jump to avoid another car, to then sprint, land on to our knees and then get up off our knees, run around and do the exact same thing over and over again.

Not just at the track, but in practice, you know, that can be very demanding.

♪ ♪ So to have an ACL tear, it, it is not a joke.

It's something you have to take very serious.

♪ ♪ I think during this time where she's rehabbing and she was coming back to be ready to perform for Daytona, times like this either make or break you.

Here we go.

So look, we're going to go right side to side, single leg.

HORTON: Both legs and gun move at the same time.

Yeah.

Move at the same time.

Right?

DANIELS: Yeah.

HORTON: But keep that, but keep that foot down, kind of pivot off that foot.

Don't raise it as much.

DANIELS: Oh!

Like that?

HORTON: Yeah.

Yeah.

DANIELS: Oh!

HORTON: Yeah.

DANIELS: That felt a lot better just now.

HORTON: Yeah.

All right?

DANIELS: Yeah.

HORTON: But we'll go over that separately.

DANIELS: Okay.

HORTON: Okay?

Let me just see a couple moves now, yeah.

(metal clinking) (voiceover): She has to demonstrate that she can move as fast as she used to.

She has to show that she can hit the lug nuts as fast as she used to hit them.

We're not sure whether she can do it.

WALLS: Get out there, jump!

♪ ♪ (machinery whirring) ♪ ♪ DANIELS (voiceover): The thought ran through my mind, like, you know, if, if I can't return to NASCAR, what's next?

♪ ♪ HORTON (voiceover): This is a critical moment for Brehanna.

And the fact that she is starting from scratch.

DANIELS: You said my body is moving a little bit?

Yeah, yeah, just be under control.

Under control, then it's going to be smooth.

You try to go too fast, it's going to look sloppy, all right?

♪ ♪ DANIELS (voiceover): You just got to be strong.

You can't mess up.

You can't afford to mess up.

I got to get the lug nuts tight.

Because there's going to be tires flying down pit road if I don't.

(race track humming) ♪ ♪ We are on our way to Daytona Beach.

Super excited.

It's my first race back since May of 2022.

I'm ready to do this.

(race track humming) Coach!

You seen my pictures went viral on Twitter?

HORTON: Yeah.

DANIELS: It said like, almost 30,000.

HORTON: You got 30,000, that ain't new!

DANIELS: What?!

(laughs) (voiceover): People always ask me like, "Are you, like, nervous before every stop?"

DANIELS: How you doing?

- Welcome back, girl.

DANIELS: Thank you.

(voiceover): It's not a bad nervous.

So it's like good nerves.

"Hard cars are ready for Brehanna, Joshua and Jaquan."

It's a snapping turtle.

(car backfires) Ooh!

Oh, hell no.

(racetrack humming, indistinct cheering) ♪ ♪ WOMAN: Want radios?

Okay.

DANIELS: Thank you, yes.

(voiceover): So lug nuts, how many sets are we going to have?

WOMAN: Two.

DANIELS: Two sets?

WOMAN: Yeah.

DANIELS (voiceover): Having, you know, a whole bunch of fans watching, just people all over the world.

It's a whole bunch of... ...it's a lot of people out there.

MALE FAN: It's very nice.

DANIELS: See ya.

Oh my God, thank you!

DANIELS (voiceover): Dear Lord, thank you for allowing us all to see another day and giving us another chance and opportunity to be able to pit a race car.

I pray that you allow each and every single one of us to do our jobs correctly and to focus on each task at hand.

(engines roaring) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ HORTON: What were the lug nut hits?

DANIELS: Uh, five.

HORTON: Both sides?

DANIELS: Yes.

HORTON: You did pretty good.

DANIELS: Thank you.

HORTON: All right, get ready if we do another one.

DANIELS: Okay.

HORTON: Okay?

Good job.

DANIELS (voiceover): A lot of people didn't think that I would bounce back or even think that I was going to come back.

♪ ♪ I feel powerful.

I feel strong.

What does winning mean to me?

Mmm.

Winning means giving the very best that I know I can give.

And just doing the best that I know I can do.

♪ ♪ Three, two, one, jumping over that wall.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪