DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Wood Brothers Racing President Jon Wood sat on the stage inside the Daytona Media Center well after midnight fielding questions about Harrison Burton's first career Cup Series win.
This was a celebratory moment, but it also took Wood back to another time the leadership team sat on that very same stage during a far less enjoyable experience.
"The irony -- we sat in these seats," Wood said early Sunday morning. "I don't remember -- maybe 2016 -- when we didn't get a charter and we were talking about it, and it was the lowest point of lows.
"We had to do it. We had to come here face the music and say, 'I think we'll be okay.' and we are. You're gonna make me cry, and I don't cry."
The year, as Wood noted, was 2016. The month was February.
The team sat in the Daytona Media Center ahead of the Daytona 500 after learning that they would be one of the multiple teams that would not receive a charter. The reason is that NASCAR required a team to attempt to qualify for every race since 2013 to be eligible.
Wood Brothers Racing had been a part-time team since 2009, a difficult decision the team made. They wanted to field a part-time competitive car that could win races, as Trevor Bayne did in the 2011 Daytona 500. They had no interest in being a "start and park" operation.
Wood Brothers Racing had decided to return to full-time competition in 2016 after forming an alliance with Team Penske and receiving backing from Ford Performance. However, this announcement came too late for the historic team to get in the mix for the charter.
Instead of having a secure spot in each race, Ryan Blaney and Wood Brothers Racing had to earn a spot on the starting grid every week of the season.
As history shows, the team was successful. Blaney qualified for every race in 2016 and then he won his first Cup race in 2017. This was Wood Brothers Racing's 99th trip to victory lane and it put them one step closer to a special milestone.
The team has since acquired a charter while pursuing win No. 11. Blaney moved on to Team Penske while Paul Menard, Matt DiBenedetto, and Burton followed in his footsteps as drivers of the iconic No. 21 Ford.
Wood Brothers Racing dealt with struggles in the years since missing out on one of the original charters, but it finally broke through for the milestone win.
Eight years after sitting in the Daytona Media Center and saying they would be ok, the team's leaders returned to the same stage to celebrate at their favorite track.
"That's the part that's just so surreal in this is sitting in this same seat and thinking that where we were and where we are now," Wood said. "You go from the lowest of lows to just on top of it."