Race Day!

Here's the family! My dad, Jake, me, Uncle Mike (my dad's brother) and Aunt Terry (U. Mike's wife). They work for Rousch Fenway Racing - Uncle Mike is driving the "Hauler" (the big rig that carries the cars and all the equipment) for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who races the #16 car in the Nationwide Series. Aunt Terry keeps score for them at these races. What cool jobs!!

Aunt Terry put us on the list to get Pit Passes for this race since they were both going to be here! We do not get to see them very often so it's great! We went down to pit row during qualifying - this is the crew for Stenhouse - they set up their "cart" wherever and then after qualifying they draw for placement and get their official spot on pit row. Dad and Jake up close and personal.

In fact, I didn't get a picture of dad trying to get on ESPN when they were interviewing one of the drivers right in front of us. It was pretty funny. We were right by the exit for the cars after they timed in so that was fun to see them all drive by when they were done.

I guess this was a little "prophetic" but I did take a picture of Brad Keselowski after he qualified - he ended up winning the race much to Jake's chagrin - he stole it from Kyle Busch in the last few laps of the race!

Here is Kyle Bush's car just after qualifying - we heard that he didn't do the qualifying run but who knows.

And then we had to go find Kyle's trailer - (Jake really likes Kyle Bush).

And his car sitting in the garage - just waiting for race time now.

Ricky was the pole-sitter for the race! He had the best qualifying time and that meant he got the #1spot in pit row and for the start of the race! I neglected to get a shot of the hauler that Mike drives (that was dumb!) but here is the pole with Ricky's number on it!

Here's the crew taking the car out for driver introductions and the start of the race. While we were standing here we talked to one of the safety crew and he was showing us the schedule for the day - NASCAR literally has it timed to the minute - he said they get a little upset when they are off by any amount of time. Now that would take some planning!

Here is Carl Edwards walking to the track for the race - he was mobbed but was very nice and signed a ton of autographs. I tried to get a picture of Kyle Busch but there were too many people around him and ESPN was in his face so it was nearly impossible.

Uncle Mike told us to go into the hauler (aka leather couches, A/C, and cable tv) and relax and cool off so we watched the introductions then Jake and my dad walked outside and never came back. I wondered where they went but I was a little too comfy to go anywhere for a few minutes. So after I realized they weren't coming back I decided to go out and watch the race from the pits.

I found the guys watching the action - the guys in blue are Ricky's crew. And of course I had to get a picture of Kyle just for Jake.

There is Uncle Mike waiting for a pit stop. It's a lot of hurry up and wait in the pit area. There is a ton of prep work and then a rush of excitement for the pit stop - some more running around taking stats and getting ready for the next pit stop and then sit around and wait again - over and over. Don't get me wrong - it is a ton of fun but it's different being on this side of things. The only drawback is you can only see when they come right by you but we definitely did NOT complain! Thank you again Aunt Terry & Uncle Mike!!

Here was the first pit stop! On the guard rail ready to jump off and go -

It's still amazing to see how fast these guys move!

Then we had to go down and find Kyle Bush's pit crew - and just so you know it was at the VERY opposite end of pit row!

We didn't have to wait very long to see the pit crew in action -

Since Kyle's pit was at the other end we were at turn #4 and you could really see a lot more of the race from down there - we stayed for the restart which was fun too! I decided it would be fun to ride in the pace car - think they'd let me if I asked?

It was such a great day! We had beautiful weather - got a little sunburned but that's about it. We were so lucky to have our friends watch Jacob for the entire day so we could go and see family and see a great race all at the same time! Especially since it was only a 30 minute drive to the speedway. It was a wonderful day thank you again Mike and Terry!