Above The Yellow Line: "The Funky 500" - Analyzing the Varying Strategies For The Great American Race and A Storybook Night For Hendrick Motorsports

Having the Daytona 500 on a Monday is not what made this race odd.

An early wreck on lap six of “The Great American Race” shuffled strategy for every team. When the field came to pit road, only three cars stayed out on track. While these three hoped to vital track position, it created a tricky fuel mileage race for everyone the rest of the stage.

This began the “funky 500” where we saw single car pit stops resulting in a jumbled up field.

Stage 2 was the calm before the storm when the final stage presented fans with ‘the big one’ and a finish that left more to be desired.

Join Taylor Kitchen to break down the big moments of the event on this episode of Above The Yellow Line.

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Taylor Kitchen

Taylor Kitchen found her passion for motorsports after watching a NASCAR Xfinity Series race with her grandma in 2016. The following year, she would attend her first race at Kentucky Speedway. The smell of the gas and roar of the engines filling her ears was enough to solidify her love of the sport. She spent the next few years working her way into the NASCAR online community and researching as much as she could to gain a vast knowledge of the sport. However, something was bothering her. At the time, Taylor struggled to find content within the space that was female-led and came from the perspective of a new fan. This inspired her to create her own media outlet, “Above The Yellow Line” in 2021. On this platform, Taylor writes, films, edits, and markets high-quality videos discussing the latest news and events from the sport. In April of 2022, her company partnered with the prominent NASCAR media outlet TobyChristie.com to provide them social media content and to report on location during select race weekends. Since then, Taylor has been able to help build TobyChristie.com's YouTube audience to well over four thousand subscribers and continues to help expand the company's social reach with her team. 2022 marked a new era for the brand as Taylor expanded ATYL’s capabilities to help various drivers with their communications, public relations, digital media, and marketing. In June of that year, she was hired by ARCA Series Champion, Austin Theriault to work for his driver development program, "AT Racing Development". As the organization's Director of Digital Marketing and Media, she produces and directs her clients tailor-made social media strategies. She also takes part in marketing efforts for her drivers. In May of 2023, Austin Theriault of AT Racing Development partnered with Team Hornaday Development and brought Taylor to the team as their Communications Manager. Working with Ron and Candice Hornaday, Taylor helps direct their drivers social media strategy and PR efforts. She also partakes in company and driver marketing and recruiting efforts