I headed down after a quick lunch at my vehicle (O-kay, so Subway no longer sponsors a Roush Fenway vehicle, but it’s still my favorite lunch to start a racetrack day with!!), in time for the first Busch practice and Cup practice.
When practice was over, I left pit lane for a short while to say hi to the folks at the souvenir hauler, then headed to the Speed stage for Trackside. Being the lone Edhead there, I couldn’t manhandle the banner by myself, but did draw up a sign from the poster board they supplied “All yours, Babe!! 99 Champ” was caught by the camera once, as was the “Proud Edhead” reverse in the crowd shots. Mission accomplished, and I got to see Greg Biffle interviewed as a bonus.
Back down on pit lane, I delivered a goodie bag from the Carl Edwards Diehards to the 60 crew, who were already set up in a pit stall on pit lane. Having not heard from the others yet (they weren’t going to be there as early as I was) I planted myself on the pit wall to watch Busch qualifying, right by the 60 stall. Primo spot, especially after I had been sitting up the way for a while to watch practice.
Unlike pit passes at other tracks, here we pit lane addicts got to see the cars and drivers as they came down pit lane for Busch qualifying…many of the drivers were, unfortunately, already sitting in their cars by the time they got that far down pit lane (Carl was), but I saw Stephen Wallace (who was riding on the tool cart, pulled by his team…I pointed this out to the girl next to me, saying “At least he could HELP the guys push the car!!” to which she responded with “They probably don’t want to risk his wrecking it already!!” LMAO!!!),
Scott Wimmer, David Ragan (whom I felt like I was stalking…every time I turned around, there he was!!), Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer, Brian Vickers, JJ Yeley, Ryan Newman, and of course I saw a lot of Jack Roush, too…he seemed to be all over the place. 
When Busch qualifying was over, they had already rolled quite a few cars out onto pit lane for Cup qualifying, but as the Busch teams now needed to set up in their pit stalls (where we were sitting) they started shooing us back behind the pit stall lines, so I lost my primo spot. I ALMOST asked the 60 guys if I could borrow a chunk of their wall, but they had work to do, didn’t need to be trying to work around me.By this time, I FINALLY found Brandi, Pam and Kristina, who reported they had been stalking PK!!! I had been down there all that time and never once saw him…go figure!! We chatted with one of the officials, who Pam tried to con into making sure the 29 team had some “missing lugnuts” during the Busch race necessitating their coming back in (he, of course, declined!) and he introduced us to the flagman, who just happened to be walking by at that time, flags and all. They were both very nice, but the original official declined to take a picture of the group of us, saying he would get in trouble if he were caught taking pictures…then laughingly joined us IN a picture. That one must be on someone else’s camera, because I remember it, but don’t have it…Pam?
After stalking Marty Smith a bit...o-kay, Pam was, because the man would NOT stand still for her to take a pic (for me, he practically posed!!! LOL), 
Brandi then resumed her mission to find the #8 Elvis car, and we set her up right across from where the cars were coming out of inspection….and I, at this point having been on pit lane or somewhere in the sun for most of the afternoon, chose rather than staying down there in the heat and further dehydrating myself (my water had long since been consumed) through Cup qualifying, to head out to get some food and find some shade for a while. That’s the ONLY think pit lanes around the country sadly lack…shade!! By this point I was pretty sure that if I didn’t sit in the shade for a while, I was going to melt into a puddle.
After a trip to cool off in the hospitality area, I climbed into the stands just In time for Carl’s qualifying lap (in time, actually, to watch the late 99 car and team, who must have been put on the 5 minute clock when delayed going through inspection, because they were BOOKIN’ it, pushing that car down pit lane, several other cars having already gone in Carl’s stead…)
Carl was already in the car, ready to go, so I watched his qualifying run (SECOND!!! Good enough for a 6th place starting place by the time all of them qualified) from the stands, then grabbed some food and relaxed. And tried not to pay attention to mental images that kept flitting through my mind of Brandi tossing herself on the hood of the Elvis car as it finally came through inspection…I didn’t see her on the car when it lined up on pit lane, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t been there!! LOL
By Busch race time, I was fully rehydrated and ready for a race.
I’m not sure, but I think this was the first time I have ever experienced a Red flag live, so I joked with Brandi, Pam and Kristina that I had lost my red flag viginity…this joke would carry over to the Cup race.
After a long day at the track during which the only time I spotted Carl was as he rolled by me in the car either in practice or on his way to qualifying, I headed back to my hotel with only one detour…had I been one lane over, I would have been in the traffic that was directed straight down the road my hotel was on, but of course I was not, and ended up circling the north part of Richmond on interstates I am well familiar with after living in Virginia last year…I didn’t need to see them again late at night, when I was tired and just wanted to go to sleep!! Since my hotel was in SOUTHERN Richmond, this was frustrating…especially since this route took me RIGHT back by the racetrack on I-95 before I finally got there…UGH!
At least now I knew which lane to be in after the Cup race Saturday night. Right??
Brandi then resumed her mission to find the #8 Elvis car, and we set her up right across from where the cars were coming out of inspection….and I, at this point having been on pit lane or somewhere in the sun for most of the afternoon, chose rather than staying down there in the heat and further dehydrating myself (my water had long since been consumed) through Cup qualifying, to head out to get some food and find some shade for a while. That’s the ONLY think pit lanes around the country sadly lack…shade!! By this point I was pretty sure that if I didn’t sit in the shade for a while, I was going to melt into a puddle.After a trip to cool off in the hospitality area, I climbed into the stands just In time for Carl’s qualifying lap (in time, actually, to watch the late 99 car and team, who must have been put on the 5 minute clock when delayed going through inspection, because they were BOOKIN’ it, pushing that car down pit lane, several other cars having already gone in Carl’s stead…)
Carl was already in the car, ready to go, so I watched his qualifying run (SECOND!!! Good enough for a 6th place starting place by the time all of them qualified) from the stands, then grabbed some food and relaxed. And tried not to pay attention to mental images that kept flitting through my mind of Brandi tossing herself on the hood of the Elvis car as it finally came through inspection…I didn’t see her on the car when it lined up on pit lane, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t been there!! LOLBy Busch race time, I was fully rehydrated and ready for a race.
I’m not sure, but I think this was the first time I have ever experienced a Red flag live, so I joked with Brandi, Pam and Kristina that I had lost my red flag viginity…this joke would carry over to the Cup race.
After a long day at the track during which the only time I spotted Carl was as he rolled by me in the car either in practice or on his way to qualifying, I headed back to my hotel with only one detour…had I been one lane over, I would have been in the traffic that was directed straight down the road my hotel was on, but of course I was not, and ended up circling the north part of Richmond on interstates I am well familiar with after living in Virginia last year…I didn’t need to see them again late at night, when I was tired and just wanted to go to sleep!! Since my hotel was in SOUTHERN Richmond, this was frustrating…especially since this route took me RIGHT back by the racetrack on I-95 before I finally got there…UGH!
At least now I knew which lane to be in after the Cup race Saturday night. Right??
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