(Note I'm correcting the date of this post, since there was a power outage that screwed up my server)

Today we got up early, and met up with Nick’s parents at their hotel, then caravaned up to the track. We got there about 8 AM, and as soon as we did Nick and I took off running to get to the infield. We never got the chance to go in yesterday because the garage was “hot,” so we wanted to get in.

We walked all the way around it, looking at the teams work on the cars in their garages. After 1 trip 3/4 of the way around the track Nick needed to use the bathroom. So we asked one of the dudes where we could go. He pointed us into the Neon Garage. Apparently our passes don’t allow access in there, so we used the opportunity. Chilled in “Victory Circle”, looked through the windows at crews working on the cars. It really was cool. Those Neon Garage passes are available for the public to buy for $130 for Saturday, and $150 for Sunday (Almost as much as our grandstand seats!!!).

So we bailed out of the Neon Garage, and started walking down towards Jeff Gordon & Jeff Burton’s haulers. As soon as we got to Burton’s Nick noticed him standing there. It seemed like Burton noticed him too as he started to try to get away. ;) Nick did get him to sign his hat though.

A few more haulers down was Gordon’s hauler. We waited there for quite a while. Steve Letarte came over, and I got a picture with him, and had him sign my hat. Shortly after that Chad Knaus cruised by us and got into the 48 hauler. We waited more, and I was able to get his autograph too. Still we waited for Jeff Gordon & Jimmie Johnson. They never showed, but their teammate Casey Mears did, and we both got his autograph.

Eventually the garage went back to Hot for practice, so we had to leave. We met back up with Sarah and Nick's parents, where I gave the cold pass to Sarah, along with my camera. So while they went there I hung out with Nick's parents. We went up to our seats, and got ready for racing! Before the race started Nick and Sarah got back. I used earplugs at the beginning of the race, but actually started dozing off. We all got up to take a break around lap 50, and went out to the car to get some food. We got back about 75 laps later. Now I was wide awake. We watched the rest of the race, then chilled to let everyone out. I walked down to the start/finish line and got some pictures. After about an hour we went out to the cars. It took us about 1 hour to get to the south end of the strip. We met up with everyone else and ate at the buffet in Mandalay Bay. It was alright. Good salmon, crappy chicken marsala. Then we headed back to the condo, where we took a quick trip up to the roof where the pool is to check out the view. Very cool.

More pictures under Nationwide Race Day!