Steve Byrnes - NASCAR Hall Of Fame Spotlight

With The NASCAR Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony tonight I want to make this Well now with it being moved to tomorrow Afternoon I wanted to make this NASCAR Hall Of Fame Spotlight extra special featuring a large inspiration of this blog along with a tribute to the man, Steve Byrnes. The Late Steve Byrnes has been named the most recent recipient of The Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence. Below we will do like normal on one of the Greatest Guys in NASCAR Media in the History of NASCAR.
Steve was Steve. He was one of my personal heroes and that never ended and still continues today after he's gone. Steve was a large influence of why I wanted to join NASCAR Media. A message that Steve sent me before he passed stuck with me every morning before I would go to School. That quote was "You are one more day closer to NASCAR." That one quote Steve told me one day was something I still tell myself every morning before I begin the day. As I pursue a Career in NASCAR as a Journalist the thought of Steve still lingers in the mind of me and I am sure among many others. Steve would help anyone he could and he would work his hardest to keep a smile on anyone he was near and he commonly did that. Steve was a person who many of us in the Journalism World would look up too and try to be like because Steve would always ask those

questions you the fan would want to hear the answer to. Today I try to continue that. Steve was just a great guy all around. I still remember the Race at Sonoma where Steve just happened to be in the right place at the right time, or maybe the worse place at the worse time at Fontana when he asked Tony Stewart "What anger do you have about the situation" and that was the famous time Tony said he would beat Joey Logano's A$$. That was one of the many moments Steve was involved

in but It is one of those moments that lives in the past of both Steve Byrnes and Tony Stewart's career. Steve Byrnes took his job seriously and when someone takes their job seriously they become some of the Greatest People in whatever they are doing. Steve was that Great Person to Motorsports. Steve did his Job and he did it very well. He would always catch an interview when you would least expect someone to get that interview and when you can get that interview I know first hand that awesome feeling you get. Every time you would see Steve you would know something big was coming.
At Bristol on the Day before he died you saw all of the #ByrnesStrong logos along with everyone in the stands with a sign that said Stand Up For Steve. These things showed how much Steve meant to the fans and the NASCAR family.
On the Day that the announcement came that Steve had passed I was in Spanish. I was heartbroken as was everyone else in the Sport. Steve meant so much to everyone in this sport and to lose someone like him just breaks everyone's hearts. We will never forget Steve and will continue to live on his legacy.
When it was announced that Steve would receive The Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence I personally thought that how much he deserved this award. The ending of that award's name is just how I want to sum up Steve and How I will remember him and that is Excellence. Thank you Steve.
(Koelle,2016)