Dover NASCAR Weekend
It is already that time of year again when the NASCAR races come to Dover. We only live a couple of miles from Dover International Speedway. Over the few years that we have lived here I have had a couple of opportunities to go to the races but none quite as good as this year. A friend of mine at work was able to get me a “Cold” pit pass that was good for the whole weekend. On Friday we got together and spent some time touring the pits, the Nationwide Series garages and the inside of the track. We were down on the track when the guys were practicing. On Friday afternoon we went down to pit road for the introductions and to see Samantha Doorn sing the National Anthem. Samantha is the daughter of one of Jeff’s co-workers at Kraft. It was quite an experience to be right in the middle of the action. Unfortunately, right after the drivers started their engines it started to rain. The race was rained out and postponed until Saturday. That evening my friends and I hung out in Dover Downs and got a tour of the facility. There were a lot of events going on and we even got into a celebrity pool tournament that had a few of the drivers and Hershel Walker.
The crew started the day early on Saturday morning with Jeff, Andy, Eric and Kenny meeting up and tailgating in the parking lot. Andy cooked 
up some excellent brats and we had a burger, chips and of course a few beers. Jeff and Eric went into the infield for the start of the race. It was neat to be so close to the drivers and see all the action on pit road. Pit road isn’t the best place to see the race so after a few laps Jeff and Eric went out to catch up with Andy and Kenny. On the way they stopped in one of Eric’s friend’s suites just to say hi. Then they continued on to the Turn 4 area where Andy and Kenny were camped out for the race. It was great to get all those different perspectives of the track. Jeff picked Joey Lagano to win the race and right up until the end of the race it looked like Kyle Busch was going to win it. In the last few laps Kyle had a tire issue and Brad Kaslowski swooped in to take the win. Joey came in second. Most everyone was happy that Kyle didn’t win though.
We weren’t sure if we were going to stay for the truck race. It had been a long day. Right at the last minute Andy and I decided that we would stay. I have never seen the truck race so it was something I wanted to. Andy and I went back into the track and took a seat in Turn 1. It was a good race. Again Kyle Busch dominated and made it look easy at each restart weaving in and out of the others. Right at the end of the race he had another tire problem and wasn’t able to recover. There were a lot of cautions for tire problems but it was still a good race. Afterwards, Andy and I dragged ourselves out of the stands and headed home. It was a very long day but also a very fun one!
Even though I had a pass that would get me into the infield I decided that two days of racing was enough for me and I’ll watch the Sprint Cup on TV. It was an excellent experience and I’m thankful to have good friends to be able to share the experience with!
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