It's weird, really. You know you're going to be down there for a while preparing for that race, but you don't realize just how long it is until you actually do it. We were down there for a long period of time. Then, just like that it's gone and on to Rockingham.

	As the 2003 Busch Series champion, Vickers is NASCAR's youngest national champion. Credit: Autostock

It was so fun, though. I couldn't be with a better team than Hendrick Motorsports and GMAC. We had our ups and downs throughout Speedweeks -- we were strong in some practices and not in others, and we didn't have it exactly where we wanted it in qualifying or in the 125s. But the guys got the car set up awesome for the race.

We worked our way from the back all the way up front, and, of course, I got taken out by the 30 car when he lost it on the inside of me. It's frustrating, because there were actually some guys that were starting to work with me.

You finally start to build that respect and get that help you need, and then something like that happens. It was so frustrating when we wrecked because we were getting up through there, and there were some guys working with us. Not everybody. I was still getting shuffled out like a rookie, but I think we worked well with those guys.

I just hate it. We had a really good shot at a top-five or top-10. Before the race there was so much going through my mind. With the president and all the fans, all the media there, there was just so much going on. It was a really big deal and hard to grasp it all. Man, it was a really big deal.

I even heard people say it seemed like at the start of that race there was more energy and excitement than there was about the Super Bowl. That says a lot for our sport. The drivers felt that, too. Getting in those cars and pulling off pit road for the Daytona 500, with the President there and all the people, it was neat, a once in a lifetime experience for me.

But once we got out on the racetrack, especially once the green flag dropped, it was just business as usual. I didn't think anything about the President or the fans or anything else. Just focusing on the race.

My two teammates were right in front of me, just a spot or two ahead of us. We'd been going back and forth a little bit. Jeff (Gordon) and I worked awesome together.

We both started at the very back and went all the way to the very front together, most of the time right up through the middle. That was fun. He was actually just talking about that last night, how good we were.

	Vickers' No. 25 Chevrolet suffered heavy damaged in the wreck. Credit: Autostock

There were a couple guys I could've gotten with right there before the wreck. That's what I was trying to do, too, so I could make that charge to the very front. I think we were running seventh or eighth when I happened. We wanted to get up there and try to lead a lap, get some points, but unfortunately it didn't work out.

We started off last year the same way, and ended up winning the championship. This team doesn't know what give up is. We'll stick together and work hard and try to do what we did last year. Now we're looking at Rockingham.

Rockingham's an entirely different experience than Daytona. Daytona's just such a big deal. All the races are, but there's just so much media and so much hype that comes with Daytona that you don't get anywhere else.

That really changes the feel and intensity and how busy you are. The whole mindset of the driver, the team, the entire industry changes when you get to Rockingham. It's so different, but the racing's just as good and I think everybody gets excited about it.

I'm excited thinking back on Daytona. Despite the outcome, I think I managed to gain some respect out there during Speedweeks. I hope so.

Our team as a whole proved in the race we could run well. Unfortunately we were taken out of the race, not by our doing. In the future we'll try not to put ourselves in situations around people that we think might take us out of the race.