Race Weekend!

Greg and I were verrrry excited to go back to Daytona after having a fabulous time at the 500 back in February. We decided very last minute to book a hotel room about 15-20 miles outside of Daytona. Prices in Daytona were ridiculous, and even still the hotel we ended up booking was probably 3x the price it should have been any other weekend. Anyhoo, we got there and checked in around 3pm. It was shabby and scary from the outside, and when we went into the lobby, the front desk attendant looked like she was right out of a creepy movie. She was tiny, with a huge platinum bouffant, ample make-up, and a sqeeeeky little voice. I wish I would've have gotten a picture of her! Here's the hotel, with a lovely paining of Daytona International Speedway. Looks just like the speedway. Ahem.

So then, we headed over to the speedway, not really looking forward to hanging out in our smoky hotel room. We arrived at the track, parked nearby, and strolled over. We bought tickets to the Fan Zone this time, which was soooooo worth it. We got to see the cars in their garages, watch the crew hang out, saw a little of the inspections, and just hung around and felt a lot more part of the action than we did at the 500.

When it was time to have a bite to eat, we got our hotdog and hamburger, and scanned the area for a place to set up. We saw a little table with one guy eating there, so we asked if we could join him. Greg noticed the Hot Pass around his neck (a pass that enables fans to actually get really close to the cars and other VIP places), and he was like, "How'd you get one of those?" The guy was like, "My brother-in-law." And astute Greg, noticing the Jeff Burton baseball cap on this guy's head, as well as the ones on his two friends who had joined us, said, "Is your brother-in-law Jeff Burton??" And the answer was YES! We chatted with them for about 30 minutes - they were from Tampa, we talked about Davis Island, being in Iraq (the friend was due to go back to Iraq soon), and a lot of other things that we had in common. Is it bad that we were secretly hoping they'd invite us back to the RV to hang out before the race? Well, they didn't, but we still had an awesome time checking everything out:

Whatever Happens, I Didn't Do It!   (Heehee)

Well, hello Carl

Interview with Joey Logano

Interview with AJ Allmendinger and David Ragan

He turned out to be the big winner!

Interview with Greg Biffle

The quintessential NASCAR fans. Too good of a photo op to pass up!

Matt Kenseth is there on the left

Getting kicked off the track...heading back to our seats

One more picture...stalling...waiting for my boyfriend, Carl Edwards

Aha! There he is...just barely

Ready to begin

Go #99!!!

Winner David Ragan!

Unfortunately, Carl Edwards had a very early crash that damaged his car pretty badly. He was behind laps for almost all of the race, so that made me sad. However, David Ragan and Matt Kenseth hooked up together and David ended up winning. It was his first win in Sprint Cup, he drives a Ford, and we saw him earlier in the day and liked him during his interview. Greg was happy that "our team" won, and explained to me that it's better to like a team, rather than an individual, in case something like this happens (Carl pretty much out early in the race). Meh, I guess. So, my cheering team goes like this:

Tier 1 - Carl Edwards
Tier 2 - Denny Hamlin (Three words - "It's Denny Time.")
Tier 3 - Roush-Fenway Team

We are already talking about going to the final race of the season, in Homestead, in November. Our ten year wedding anniversary is coming up in October...I think that's something to celebrate with a little NASCAR weekend! Especially if Carl Edwards keeps himself up top in points!

Who knew that I'd be blogging about NASCAR? Thank you Greg and (yeah, gotta admit) Ben and Lightning McQueen for a fun new form of entertainment!