Two Kansas high school students are in for the ride of their lives this week when they get to work with a local Charlotte race team before a major race.

Bryce Banks and Jedediah Redger will shadow Trevor Bayne and his Wood Brothers Racing team during the Coke Zero 400 in Daytona.

 The two will also serve as honorary pit crew members for the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion team. And if that wasn’t enough, the duo won thousands of dollars in scholarships and prizes.

More than 13,000 students from across the country entered this year’s Auto Skills Competition. To qualify, participants had to take an entry written exam in February.

Those with the best scores advanced to the State Finals where they got their hands dirty and fixed intentionally installed “bugs.”

The winning team from each state got a chance to win it all at the national level.  A local team from Lake Norman High School represented North Carolina this year.

Banks and Redger beat out 98 other hopefuls during the national finals of the 63rd annual Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills Competition to win this hands-on opportunity.

The Kansas team had to take another written exam when they first arrived. Then, they earned a “perfect car” when they flawlessly diagnosed and repaired a number of purposefully placed “bugs.”

Banks and Redger had to service digital, mechanical and electrical parts of the car. They won the title when their score, combined with the results of their written exam, surpassed all other participants’ tallies.

 Banks and Redger begin shadowing at Wood Brothers Racing in Charlotte on Monday, July 2 and travel to Daytona on July 4.

The duo will get to see their work in action when the 52nd Coke Zero 400 in Daytona lights up the tracks on July 7.