Sam Hunt rather famously launched his own team while living inside a van parked in a race shop lot. His rags-to-riches story as the owner of Sam Hunt Racing has truly made him an underdog you can’t help but root for in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. But long before that, he was chasing his own opportunity behind the wheel before one bizarre incident at Daytona changed that path forever.

It was 2013, and Hunt had successfully qualified for the exhibition event at the iconic speedway. But on race day, he was bizarrely told by an official that he was not fit to drive because of his health.

“I was instantly a little too sick to race. I didn’t get to drive my car. Got some capital to go to college with, but yeah, I had to leave the premises because I was too ill to race,” Hunt revealed on the Stacking Pennies Performance podcast.

The incident unfolded during a late-model stock car and modified race on Daytona International Speedway’s backstretch. According to Corey LaJoie, roughly 40 cars were competing for around 24 spots in the Canon race. There was no heat-race format, so qualifying alone determined the field. Hunt had done enough to earn his spot and was ready to go.

He was at driver introductions in his firesuit. Then, as Hunt recalled, he was walking across the stage with LaJoie and former NASCAR driver Brandon McReynolds when he heard the announcers call another name instead of his.

At first, he thought the organizers had simply made a mistake on the entry sheet. But when he returned to the impound area, he saw seat molds on the roof of his car, with another driver next to it. Someone else seemingly had come and bought his seat out. Stole the moment that was going to be his.

Veteran short-track racer Shane Lockhart, the person Hunt credited with helping hold his racing deal together, ultimately made a decision that changed the course of the day, and eventually, his life.

LaJoie suggested that the decision may have been made because there was enough money involved for Hunt to benefit from stepping away. Regardless, Hunt never got behind the wheel. Instead, he received money.

At the time, he was studying business with a concentration in financial management at Virginia Commonwealth University. So while he lost the chance to race, the money allowed him to invest in the next chapter of his life.

The emotional side of the decision, however, was much harder to process. The race was being broadcast live on Fox. He was moments away from experiencing one of his breakout moments in racing.

“It was really hard,” Hunt admitted on the same podcast. “It was like one of those moments that at that time you’re just angry and confused and trying to understand the why.”

Hunt now looks back on the incident with considerably more perspective. He believes the decision was ultimately the right one, particularly because he had already started to recognize the realities of his own driving career.

That realization eventually helped Hunt understand that if he wanted to stay in motorsports, he might need to find another way into the sport. The Daytona incident didn’t end his relationship with racing. Instead, it became one of the experiences that helped shape his eventual transition from driver to team owner.