Saturday, Saturday

The original plan Saturday morning was that Phil would ride up to the track with the team guys and I would come up later. There were only two practice sessions scheduled and then the garage was closing at 3:00pm. When Phil got up he talked me into going to the track with him at 6:00am. It was actually amazing to watch the sun come up over the race track and see how many people were there waiting to get in the gates. Phil went ahead with his team and I stayed in the truck and read my book until about 7am.

I walked down to the NASCAR truck to get my cold pass and register. The hauler is located right beside the driver's lot - where the million dollar motor coaches are parked. As I was walking down, out came the drivers one by one on their golf carts headed to the track. The fans were lined up along the street there and they would shout the driver's names as they road past. There are no fans like NASCAR fans.

I got my registration and went met Phil in the garage. He was pretty busy so I tried to stay occupied at the hauler. It was fun to meet some of the crew guys and just walk around and watch the work going on. I compare a NASCAR garage to a swarm of bees or killer ants. Everyone has their job - their place to be - their thing to do and everyone is doing it. It really is incredible. No one is sitting around, no one is slacking, and most amazingly, no one is getting run over. They all seem to have this sixth sense about when a car is about to come zooming past them on the way to the track or into their garage stall. There were a few times where I gasped and though, "LOOK OUT!" But there were no injuries as far as I could see.

During the practice sessions I got to stand up on top of the hauler and watch the cars. Phil got me a radio so I could hear Elliott's communications with Tommy, the crew chief as well as the spotter's communications with Elliott. It was cool to hear Elliott say the car was driving this way or that way and the crew chief message down to the guys to make this change and that change.

Some of you may have heard of the Martinsville Hot dogs. They are famous among race folk and fans. They are gross. But let me just tell you, that in an effort to support my husband and his team (and the fact that he told me they wouldn't win unless I ate one) I did in fact eat one. A hot dog you say? That's not gross! But these ones are. They are BRIGHT RED and very pink on the inside. I'm not sure what they are made of, nor do I want to know. I just hope that it is out of my system by now and would like to think that my sacrifice for the team somehow helped them to a top 10 finish. More on that later...

Anyway, it was a great morning altogether. Elliott had a good practice run and the guys were excited for Sunday. We left the track shortly after 3pm and went back to our hotel. We planned to go out for dinner and maybe do some shopping, but we both totally crashed. Phil fell asleep first. I was waiting for the headache-from-the-racetrack medicine to kick in. I read my book for a while and also fell asleep. After about 3 hours of snoozing we hauled ourselves up and went to get some dinner. Again the wait was long but worth it at Macaroni Grill. We got a small booth in the back and enjoyed just talking and eating. It was so fun! While we waited we walked down to Barnes and Noble and bought some new reading material.

Phil had to do some work when we got back to the hotel so I read in bed while he laptop-ed away. I must have fallen asleep because I don't remember much past page 3...

Pictures: 1) the boys hard at work 2) Phil - figur'n it out 3) as I mentioned before...there's nothing like NASCAR fans! 4) Sunrise over the back stretch 5) Phil and the crew guys having a laugh 6) More work on the car 7) the Garage on Saturday morning - the M&M's hauler is toward the left, look for the yellow.