Landon Cassill drives the No. 83 Burger King/Dr Pepper Toyota during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)

Soon, though, things slipped into a rhythm. Unlike the 200-400 employee teams they compete against, BK Racing now races with two full-time teams with 45 employees in house. Men still crossover into one another’s roles, people come to McMullen outlining things they’ve done for the future in order to make sure they don’t get forgotten.

The shop looks cozy now. Pictures in the lobby seem to speak of a history that runs more than a few months. Cars line the floor. Crews are now working on cars for a week out – with multiple ones to choose from – instead of rushing to get the coming race’s entries onto the truck.

And the drivers and crews now have their own notebooks to rely on each weekend.

They’re reaching their modest goals of earning top-25 finishes on a regular basis and gaining ground from there. Everyone on the team brought a realistic approach to the year, something that has probably helped them through the sometimes trying times any new team must certainly face.

Yet, as they look around the organized shop, as they unload off the transporter each week feeling more competitive in the opening practices, they find signs of just how far things have come.

Anderson, who refers to himself as a “pure rookie” as he navigates the waters as a crew chief for the first time, has forged a solid relationship with Kvapil. They finished season-best eighth at Talladega Superspeedway and are 29th in the standings. Cassill is 31st.

“Still kind of a whirlwind,” Anderson said. “… We’re competitive enough right now that it feels like we’ve made some pretty big accomplishments. We still need bodies and people but it’s coming along. It’s slowly progressing … We think we’re going to be really competitive this last part of the season going into next year and it’s been a challenge but it’s starting to pay off a little bit now, finally.”

The drivers feel so as well.

Kvapil said that he knew about the team’s potential in the offseason. In the middle of January, his talks with them started to gain traction and then he was offered what he calls “kind of a part-time role in the No. 93.” He has also driven the organization’s No. 73, at Darlington, competing in 30 of the 31 races for BK Racing this year.

“Our goals at the beginning of the year were, ‘Let’s not tear up cars, let’s get solid finishes, kind of build a foundation, keep the cars in the top 35 … and be prepared down the road. We were able to do that.”

Travis Kvapil, driver of the No. 93 Burger King/Dr Pepper Toyota, stands on the grid during qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Goody's Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway on March 31, 2012. (Photo: Getty Images)

He worked with Anderson helping with the setup of the car, based on Kvapil’s experience, in those opening races.

“For me, I really loved it,” Kvapil said. “It was exciting. It was an opportunity to take something from nothing and try to build it and try to be successful. I like to be hands on, I like to spend time at the shop and be involved in the race team and have input so I enjoyed that time. I still do.”

Cassill, 23, comes at it from another perspective. He’s a young driver getting his shot – and trying to take full advantage of that.

“It’s been a great experience,” he says. “It’s a hard sport, it’s tough and for a team to come in and try to build from the group up is not an easy task. These guys, our owners of BK Racing, they’ve shown their committed to the sport and it’s been a learning experience for sure.”

As they look back over the season, these men must continually remind themselves of just how young this BK Racing operation is – and of how much each step toward success really means.

There’s a special vibe among the men working to make this team a success, one that doesn’t necessarily exist in larger operations.

“We’re just kind of old-school racers with a pen and paper and you’re setting the car up out on the shop floor,” Kvapil says. “We didn’t have a lot of the tools in place to really science setups out.”

So they bonded together – men and women facing an uphill battle and determined to beat the odds.

They look out for one another and guardedly protect what they are building.

They truly work as one.

“It really comes down to that family atmosphere,” Devine says. “... We talk about that. We’re all in this together and it’s really been a lot of fun in a lot of ways to build that team atmosphere. I really think that’s a big part of whatever successes people think we’ve had, whether it’s the qualifying well or the running well here and there, it’s all a result of having that team or family feel.”

And pride. No matter what happens going forward, this group is extremely proud of what it has built at this point – and the way that it all came together so quickly.

“I’ve worked at the big super-mega teams and I’ve worked with the different groups and I’ve been fortunate to be on several championship teams and numerous wins and all … and I swear it’s the Gods honest truth and it comes from the deep of my heart – I’ve never been with a better group,” McMullen said. “…The sense of accomplishment from not having 400 people and 27 wind tunnel dates and everything else, just having a group of guys who are saying, ‘Don’t worry, I think I can make this a little better’ and digging in like they do here, I can’t even express the sense of accomplishment and pride I have in this group.”