NASCAR

That's right. NASCAR. Kyle and I went to our first official NASCAR race this past weekend. I know what you are thinking, something along the lines of "What ever possesed them to do that?" or "NASCAR, really!?" Well, Kyle's work invited him to go, and he was originally going to turn them down so he could spend time with me (awwww) before he starts traveling the next few weeks. Turns out, his boss couldn't go either so they turned his ticket into my ticket and off to Dallas we went! With a friend watching Tucker for the weekend, we enjoyed our King Suite hotel room in Dallas for the weekend. We arrived late Friday night and headed to the tracks around 10 AM on Saturday. We had a chance to walk around and see the sites before our Garage Pit Tour at 1 PM. The pic on the L is one small portion of the Texas Motor Speedway. 4 Dallas Cowboys Football Stadiums could fit inside this track. On the R is part of the track with condos overlooking. Yes, those are condos, and yes, people actually buy them! Crazy! Then we had our Garage Pit Tour. We were able to walk around the pits and see the mechanics working on the cars, watch them do their thing. It was really neat to see the cars up close and personal, as well as watch the mechanics work. They are amazing! TL: All the race trailers lined up inside the garage pit TR: Kyle and me with the 3M car! (3M is the one who sponsored our trip to the races. It was nice hanging out with some Minnesotans for a change!

BL: Inside the garage. #24 is Jeff Gordon's car.

BR: Watching the mechanics fuel up the car. They can fill their entire tank in seconds.

After grabbing a bite to eat and enjoying the AC (it was super HOT and WINDY) we ventured out to find some souveniers. Because I am not much of a NASCAR fan to begin with, I found a koozie with the #3 (Dale Earnhardt) on it. We then headed to the track for the race! 334 laps. 500 miles. Let the race begin!

TL: The cars all lined up in the pits before the race started

TR: Taking off out of the pits for the warm up laps

BL/R: All lined up in the warm-up laps!

Here is a video of the first lap! Crazy noises, crazy people, crazy fast. The average speed was 208 for this race. Only one small crash, at about lap 147 involving Go Daddy, Napa, and Furniture Row cars.

(Please don't mind the cell phone and the bald guy in the video) Thanks :)

The race was "under the lights" for the first time at the Texas Motor Speedway, and I think it was a success! The cars were going way too fast for my point-and-shoot camera, but you get the picture. Also pictured are the results at the end of the race, complete with fireworks!

Kyle had taken a photo with the "Crown Car" earlier that day in our Garage Pit tour (becaues he LOVES crown, so I thought it was fitting), and that was the car that ended up winning! Kyle got a picture with the winning car!

All-in-all it was a great day and a fun, new experience. Definately something to cross of my "bucket list." :)