DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Two females will work side-by-side on a pit crew during the NASCAR Cup Series race Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.
Brehanna Daniels and Breanna O'Leary will be tire changers for Rick Ware Racing driver Ray Black Jr. during the Coke Zero Sugar 400.
It will be O'Leary's third career race in the NASCAR Cup Series -- she was assigned a race at Dover last season but never went over the wall since the car exited the race before the first pit stop -- and second this season. Daniels, the first African-American tire changer to compete in a national series, will make her Cup debut.
Having two female pit-crew members on a Cup team is rare, especially with both in tire-changing roles.
Daniels is a former Norfolk State basketball player.
"What I'm doing in NASCAR is so much bigger than me," Daniels said in a news release. "It's been so rewarding to be part of history while at the same time inspiring others to take on challenges they thought might not be possible."
Both Daniels and O'Leary came through the NASCAR diversity program, which has placed six female graduates in the Cup Series. Daniels and O'Leary have experience changing tires in NASCAR's two national driver development series.
"[Cup] is unlike any other series," O'Leary said. "There's a certain energy and hustle and bustle -- both in the garage and on pit road. But as a tire changer, the mindset is still the same. Five lug nuts on and five off."
Rick Ware Racing has used several drivers this year in the NASCAR Cup Series and sits 36th in the owner (team) point standings. This will be Black's first start of the year.