qualifying for Cup Happy Hour. It is amazing to watch the teams working on the cars. They go out run awhile and BOOM back in for more changes. The 41 car got into the wall during practice and we stood there and watched as they fixed the car. It is unbelievable how fast they got the car fixed!
We wander around and stumbled onto the Busch series drivers meeting. This was pretty cool. We stood there and just listened. I liked that all the drivers bowed their heads and prayed together. All of a sudden they started pouring out and there I was just standing there with a big grin on my face! As we walked away we saw a cool Earnhardt Jr bus.
We wandered back to the pit area. Everywhere there was people doing there jobs. Some carried tires around. Some carried tool boxes. Some checked on the gas cans. But everyone had something to do so we stayed out of the way and watched from a distance. One thing we watched that was interesting was a guy from the yardman/cub cadet car practiced his pit stops. They had something that resembled a rim mounted on the tool box and he practiced putting the lugnuts on it.
The sun was starting to set and it was time for the beginning of the Busch race. We had grandstand seats in Pearson but decided to stick around awhile. Not meaning to we once again stumbled on the perfect place to hang out. All of a sudden the driver's were walking right past us for driver's introductions! Now this was cool!
We saw drivers hanging out. Juan Pablo Montoya was very accommodating with everyone that asked for his autograph. Kasey Kahne just hung out with his guys. We found the color guard that would present our nation's colors. I just had to have my picture taken with them since I stand behind all our military 110% I jumped 10 feet when the bombs started bursting in air during the national anthem.
The drivers got in their cars and the green flag waved! We hung out in the pits until the first pit stop. We knew who was coming in by watching which crews got on the wall. It was real interesting watching them rip off those quick pit stops.
We went up to our seats in Pearson and man what great seats! We were in section I row 39. The view was fantastic! I had to get Steve to take a picture of the infield in turn 3 and 4 since I heard it called the "ghetto". It is so different than what is going on in turn 1 and 2!
Denny Hamlin won the race and did a great burnout on the front stretch. As he headed to Victory Lane we headed back to camp for some Frogmore Stew.
Saturday morning and it is a beautiful day...at least for the time being. Steve and I headed back to the infield. We got there as teams started filing in and setting up for the race. Much like yesterday except it was the Cup cars. They were working on the 41 car again on Saturday. Joann, my sister, told me that they would paint the walls on Saturday to cover all the black lines
that the cars rubbed on there the night
before. Sure enough, there was a guy
painting the over the black parts of the
wall!
One of the best parts of the weekend was
having my picture taken in front of Victory
Lane.
Unfortunately once we realized rain was
coming we tried to change our flight with
no luck. So our trip to the Lady in Black
was cut a day short and we didn't get to
see the Cup race....maybe next year!
More photos, over 200 CLICK HERE
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