DAYTONA BEACH – Ray Forbess Jr. happily traded his black robe and gavel for an apron and tongs last weekend.

Instead of hearing pleas and testimony, he gladly listened as guests savored eating barbecue prepared by professional pitmaster Josh Skipper as race cars thundered past fewer than 75 yards away.

Most of the time, Forbess sits on the bench as one of six circuit judges. He took several days off and worked with Skipper, Matthew Mitchell and Jimbo to cater a private gathering for BRANDT and Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports at the Daytona International Speedway.

Forbess arrived at the speedway Friday afternoon and didn’t get home until early Monday.

“It felt really good,” he said. “It was worth it. It’s absolutely fun to step away and do something like this. There’s so much satisfaction when people enjoy it and tell you it’s the best thing they ever ate, and they don’t know what I really do.”

Skipper is part of the Blues Hog BBQ team that travels to national competitions. The team won the Grand Champions ribbon at the 2022 Memphis in May, signifying the World Championships.

Forbes has joined Skipper for the last three years at Daytona. He knows his way around the smoker and appreciates the creativity of turning a piece of meat into culinary perfection.

“You can cook 10 slabs of ribs, and they will come out different every time, and they will still be the best ribs you’ve ever had,” he said.

Saturday’s menu included pulled pork and smoked turkey for lunch. JR Motorsports included car owners Earnhardt Jr., his sister Kelley Earnhardt Miller, husband L.W. Miller and Rick Hendrick with driver Justin Allgaier. The team competed in the Xfinity Series United Tools Rental 300. Allgaier started on the pole but crashed on the last lap and finished 18^th.

Allgaier also ran in Sunday’s Daytona 500. It was the first start for JR Motorsports in the NASCAR Cup Series. After failing to qualify for the starting lineup on speed during time trials on Wednesday, Allgaier drove his way into the race during the first of two 150-mile qualifying races Thursday.

Country music star Chris Stapleton’s Traveller Whiskey sponsored the car. Stapleton watched the qualifying race from his home in Nashville, Tennessee, and he said he nervously texted Earnhardt several times during the race.

“I was on the edge of my couch the entire race,” he said after arriving to the track on Sunday. “This is a huge deal for me.”

Skipper said Allgaier didn’t eat Thursday before the qualifying race but made up for it on Friday.

“He ate three plates of barbecue on Friday,” he said. “And he requested ribs for Saturday. He loves my barbecue.”

Marketing Director Rod Riech said BRANDT doesn’t give Skipper a menu for race weekend.

“We tell him how many people we’re bringing, and he goes from there,” he said. “He’s never done us wrong. We met through a mutual friend (Blues Hog owner Tim Scheer), and he’s cooked for us the last four or five Daytona races. Last year, he was brought out to COA (Austin, Texas). This year, we’re trying to get him to Talladega (Alabama), Homestead and Austin.”

Sunday’s menu included smoked prime rib, brisket, pork, ribs and jalapeno sausage links, Skipper said.

Sunday’s all-night cook included a sweep by the U.S. Secret Service ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit. The VIP area where Forbes and Skipper worked was cleared at 10 p.m. Saturday, but agents allowed them to put meat on the grills and let them check them for 10 minutes at 2 a.m.

“Normally, we try to pack up and leave midway in the race,” Forbes said, “but we couldn’t because the Secret Service still had their security stuff set up, like their X-ray machine.”

There also were two rain delays during the race, totaling about four hours.

“It was a long, hard day, but it was all worth it,” Forbes said. “It was fun just to watch them eat. The satisfaction was the people coming up asking what you're cooking next. We cooked the whole day and had to have a contingency plan for the rain. We signed up to cook lunch but ended up cooking dinner.”

Just like a trial, nothing goes as planned. Which is the way Judge Ray Forbess Jr. likes it.