Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Office Depot Chevrolet, sits in his car during practice for TUMS Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo credit: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images North America)

But then David Gilliland spun his #34 car and saved Tony from eventually succumbing to Denny Hamlin and going a lap down he was able to come in and get some major work done on his car that helped the handling.  Some pit strategy soon had Stewart battling Kevin Harvick for the lead, battling a little too hard because on the next caution Tony soon had to come in unscheduled because Stewart thought he felt a tire going down. This put Stewart back in the field again.

Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, celebrates with his crew members after winning the TUMS Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway . (Photo Credit: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images North America)

However, with four fresh tires and a fire in his belly (and some well timed cautions) Tony worked his way back up the field. Racing with Jeff Gordon, Tony discovered there was more grip on the outside then he though which gave him the confidence to pass Jimmie Johnson on the outside after the last caution.  Tony moved up to second in the points and is only 8 points behind the points leader Carl Edwards.  He is 13 points ahead of third place Kevin Harvick.

Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, celebrates with a burnout after winning the TUMS Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo Credit: by John Harrelson/Getty Images North America)

Notes on Martinsville:

1. While I absolutely LOVE Tony’s “We’re not giving up” radio battle cry while battling Denny Hamlin, I was also pretty fond of some chatter I found out about on twitter.  After Jr. turned Joey Logano and Logano said “He just turned me.” His crew chief Greg Zipadelli reportedly replied back with “I’m sick of this shit. You better grow some balls and take care of it.” LOVE it.
2. I am still of the mind that speeding at any point of pit road should not be tolerated.   Pit road at Martinsville is tight enough to begin with with the drivers speeding between the “speed traps” it is only putting the crew members at greater risk. I think NASCAR really needs to add more of the “traps” to each pit road and randomize which ones will be used during any point during a particular round of pit stops.
3. Speaking of tight pit quarters, Sean Irvan, the jackman from the #38 car was treated and released from a Martinsville area hospital for injuries suffered when struck on pit road by Mark Martin during pit stops. He suffered a concussion (and loss of consciousness) neck and knee injuries.
4. I loved Marty Smith’s pre-race interview with Brad Keselowski. Marty really does some of the best interviews around in my opinion both on camera and written.
5. I love the Toyota commercial with Kyle Busch where he pulls into the puts and the crew changes his car from his NASCAR to a street car. It’s a cool commercial all-around, but my favorite part is at the end when Kyle’s singing along to Loverboy’s Working For The Weekend and he gets out of synch with the lyrics and while the lyric he should be singing is “everybody wants a little romance” he actually sings the lyric from a little further in the song so he actually sings “everybody needs a second chance.”  I LOVE that on so many levels. I mean honestly who doesn’t get the lyrics wrong some time. And there is just something apropos about needing a second chance. LOVE IT.
6. Speaking of loving it…I love this picture of Tony signing autographs in the garage:

Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Office Depot/El Monterey Chevrolet, signs autographs in the garage prior to practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series TUMS Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo Credit: Geoff Burke/Getty Images North America)

Next weekend is TEXAS.  #KeepDiggingTony and Stewart Haas Racing!

There is a reason I don’t post my race reviews directly after races.  It’s not that I don’t have the time, I usually do, unless there is some sort of weather delay or something that has made the race eat up a majority or my day. The reason I don’t post directly (same thing with why I don’t live blog races) would be because if I had posted right after the Kansas 2 race it would have read something like this:

Okay people answer me this: What the fuck was with that four tire change at the second to last pit stop? And then? What the fuckin’ fuck was with coming in at all for the last pit stop- when we had FOUR fresh tires and most likely enough fuel because of the previous stop? And what the fuckity fuck fuck fuck was with Tony’s car being SIDEWAYS in his pit stall on that last pit stop?  Explain this to me in a way that makes me feel better about the outcome of the Kansas race and you might win some brownie points or something.

Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, stands in the garage during practice at Kansas Speedway on October 8, 2011 in Kansas City, Kansas. (Photo Credit: Jamie Squire/Getty Images North America)

I am not even kidding- the post totally would have sounded like that if I had written it yesterday. I still have a lot of the same feelings that I had up there in that italicized post now- over a day later.  So I am obviously finding it very hard to find the sunny side in the events that unfolded over the last part of that race on Sunday.  I mean I sat there and pretty much watched Tony work his way up the field steadily during the first have of the race.  I was over the moon happy when we were second…then it all went down hill.

I am nothing if not a passionate, loyal to my driver fan.  After watching Tony Stewart and the 14 crew work all day to get that car up into second place- then to have it all fall apart…well that killed me.  I pretty much stomped out of the room- a sore loser you may say.  I am not saying Tony should have won…Jimmie obviously had a far superior car judging by the way he would pull out and just totally take everyone to school with his lead.  I do not begrudge Jimmie Johnson his win any more than I begrudge Chad Knaus’s pink hat (you can buy one here), but Tony had a STRONG car and had a STRONG will to be there in second.  It was one of those races where I wished I had been crocheting during the race (I do that sometimes) because I would have had something nearby that was soft and cushy that I could have thrown in my frustration at the turn out of that race. So instead of throwing yarn balls, I cursed, cuz I needed to get it out. So I did. Kinda. I still don’t feel all that much better.

Tony ended up finishing the Kansas race a measly 15th- which was hard for me to swallow considering he had been doing so well.  He has dropped to 7th in the points standings but is only 19 points out of the LEAD so…all is most definitely not lost! #KeepDiggingTony #GoTeamSHR #BookendChampionships

I don’t really have any notes about Kansas…but remember next week the race in Charlotte is on SATURDAY NIGHT!

Ok so you read the post with the curse words…you deserve to see a cute picture of Roxy in my flickr account. Go ahead…you know you want to. Who can resist cute beagle pictures?

I was encouraged by his little beginning of the race radio pep talk that he ended with: WE CAN DO THIS! I settled in and thought…of course WE CAN DO THIS!

Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, drives in the garage area during practice for the Sprint Cup Series Wonderful Pistachios 400 at Richmond. (Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images North America)

It seemed at the beginning of the race that every two or three laps there was a caution because of agressive driving causing someone to spin someone out. I believe I proclaimed a couple of times that at this race the race wouldn’t be over until midnight west coast time (I told you I might have been tempted to fast forward during this race to see what the outcome was).  All my readers know that I was crossing every appendage I physically could in hopes of Tony making the chase. Apparently turning myself into a pretzel worked (yeah sure that’s what did it…I am sure of it).

I started to relax during the end of the race, when I was pretty sure that, barring some catastrophic accident (although I still worried about it slightly) and was able to actually enjoy the racing- but for 90 percent of it I was on pins and needles. PINS AND NEEDLES people.  Were you?  Tony seemed to be able to work his way forward through the field sometimes but other times he seemed stucked where he was.  But in the end- he ended up finishing 7th- well above the 18th place finish he would have needed to clinch his place in the chase.

Tony’s “Honoring Our Heroes” symbolic memorial paint scheme was BEAUTIFUL on the track. It looked like he had an equally amazing helmet.  This is the best picture I could find of it- if you have a better one- please share:

Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, sits in his car during practice for the Wonderful Pistachios 400 at Richmond International Raceway. (Photo Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images North America)

Tony’s car was one of four cars in the field in the Saturday night race who raced a special commemorative paint scheme honoring the Stephen Siller Tunnel To Towers Foundation- a foundation that supports the families of first responders, provides scholarships for their children, as well as supports veteran’s wounded in conflict.  A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the diecasts of Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, David Gilliland and Jamie MacMurray cars will go to the foundation.  Lionel NASCAR Collectibles presented the Stephen Siller Foundation with $125,000 as the first installment of the proceeds of the money raised from the sale of diecasts.

Notes About Richmond:

1. I was so glad that Dale Junior also made it into chase.
2. The race coverage by ABC – on what to most NASCAR fans considered a crucial race- wasn’t very good. It seemed to me like there were far too many commercial breaks and a lot of times, when returning from a caution we missed the initial drop of the green flag- to find the cars already taking the first turn of the race.
3. The race at Richmond had a record tying number of cautions: 15
4. There were just as many sparks off the tracks as on.  Tony got snippy with AP reporter Jenna Fryer at his media availablity between practices on Friday.  After the race Kurt Busch is reported to had to have been physically restrained in an argument with Joe Menzer (NASCAR.COM), then later exchanged further heated words in the media center with him and even later with Jenna Fryer, when it’s reported that he ripped a transcript from her hand then ripped it in half.  So you think that there were no emotions running high at that race (and after?).  (Ok so I found the video of Kurt tearing the transcript…it appears to me that Jenna just handed it to him- he didn’t “rip it from her hands”- he did tear it in half though.)
5. Tony helped the Office Depot Foundation donate 2000 sackpacks filled with school supplies to local Virginia children:

Tony Stewart signs a sackpack for a child in Virginia. (Photo Credit: Leon Rubin)

And finally- I just have to point out a favorite quote from the official team post-race report:

“It’s going to be a long 10 weeks, but every Friday when we show up at the track we start with a clean slate and just do the best we can. So, we’ll keep digging.” – Tony Stewart (emphasis mine)

That’s right: #KeepDiggingTony!

Next Race: Chicagoland

The #14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet of Tony Stewart sits in the garage during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Good Sam RV Insurance 500 at Pocono Raceway. (Photo Credit: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images North America)

For awhile it looked like Joey Logano might get his second (rain shortened) race win of his career as mother nature poured down upon Pocono Raceway.  But- the race was not over as, soon the jet dryers were on the triangular track’s surface.  The sun even peeked out a couple times to help drying efforts.

Tony Stewart in the rains at Pocono (photo credit: Glenn Bure for Badgroove)

When the red flag was lifted for yellow- the best news all day was that Tony Stewart was the lucky dog.  The bad news is he was still in 28th place.  However, between Darian Grubb’s call for four tires when most took two and Tony’s tireless efforts- he was able to claw his way all the way up to 11th by the time the checker flag flew.  Tony retained his 9th place position in the points.

Tony Stewart in the garage area at Pocono Raceway. (Photo Credit: Glenn Bure for BadGroove)

Of course the big story of the race was Brad Keselowski- who after suffering a horrendous crash during a test session at Road Atlanta causing him a broken ankle among other injuries, overcame his injuries to win the race at Pocono.  Great news for Brad. Bad news for Tony Stewart, as he now must stay IN the top ten, or get a win to make the Chase.  This fan will be holding her breath. Maybe I should invest in maalox or something.

NOTES ABOUT POCONO:

AWWWW Alert:  Something I wanted to share with you- in case you missed it. Tony playing cars with Gavin Grubb (son of crew chief Darian Grubb) before the start of the race:

Tony Stewart plays cars with Gavin Grubb, son of crew chief Darian Grubb before the start of the race at Pocono. (Photo Credit: Copyright, CIA Stock Photography, Inc via Tony Stewart Facebook Page)

Also- Tony tickling Gavin’s neck during pre-race ceremonies:

Tony tickles Gavin Grubb during pre-race at Pocono Raceway (Photo Credit: Glenn Bure for BadGroove)

I know that is what he is doing because I do that to my nephews all the time.

Gratuitious Tony Picture 1:

Tony Stewart during driver intros at Pocono Raceway (I love the reflection in his sunglasses). (Photo Credit: Glenn Bure for BadGroove)

The post race action between Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch was fun. I wanted to see Jimmie get a little more physical with Kurt…but I had to settle for watching Jimmie’s crew hold him back from Kurt.

Speaking of Jimmie Johnson- did you all  catch “mini-chad” on Jimmie’s pitboard for the race? They had it on the national broadcast. It cracked me up- because I had been following the exploits of  “mini-chad” through out the week via Jimmie’s twitter account. Humor!

Public Service Announcement/Plea: I have someone who greatly desires a “mini-chad” (as seen here on Jimmie’s twitter) or a “half-chad”  (he’s taller than mini-chad but only half the man)- so if you can get me one…HUGE brownie points and accolades to you.

ESPN seemed to be having some major technical issues during the beginning of the race broadcast…it was kind of funny. Someone would say something and it would cut them off midsentence play a commercial then come back to them.  So we missed half of what was said. Oh well.

Special thanks to Glenn Bure for providing some of his pictures from the race at Pocono just for BadGroove- Glenn Rocks!!

Gratuitous Tony Picture 2:

Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, sits in his car during qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Good Sam RV Insurance 500 at Pocono Raceway. (Photo Credit: John Harrelson/Getty Images North America)

Next race:  Watkins Glen!

I got to thinking about this by perusing the many MANY items up for bid in the National Silent Auction being hosted by and benefiting the Tony Stewart Foundation.   One of the unique items on the long list of items to be bid on- is a race package for the 2012 running of the Brickyard that includes access to the Tony Stewart suite (and lots of other goodies like cold pit access). Awesome because for me anyway that would be TWO things off of the bucket list- swanky suite and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  Unfortunately its a wee bit too pricy for my blood…but that is okay because there is TONS of other stuff I could (and I have- so it’s easy to do) bid on. There are tons of autographed guitars (including a bitching Paul Reed Smith Custom Corvette guitar signed by Tony),  Cds (hey I have my eye on that Blake Shelton one- I am just saying), lots of Prelude stuff including two separate helmets signed by all the Prelude drivers (2009 and 2010), A helmet signed by the Indianapolis Colts (and a football in a separate auction), A ride in a two seater Indy car at Indianopolis Motor Speedway, 4 tickets and backstage passes to a Toby Keith concert,  lots of autographed WWE stuff,  some signed Tony Stewart Foundation shirts, there are even some cool things to bid on for those in the local Indianapolis area like golf, wine tasting, or behind-the-scenes tour at the Indianaoplis Zoo.  Of course there are NASCAR items- I already mentioned the Brickyard 2012 package, but there is also signed stuff from Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr- not to mention the Jeff Gordon Celebrity Bowl before the 2012 Brickyard.  It really is an EXTENSIVE list of stuff with bids starting at $14 for some stuff.

Bidding is easy – after you register all you need to do is text in (or call in) your bids.  It’s all helps the Tony Stewart Foundation help kids and animals and animals that help kids.  Bidding is open now through July 31st so check out the auction items, sign up and bid today!

Like I said I have already bid on something and I have my eye on the Blake Shelton CD, there really is something for nearly everybody and every price range on this Auction. So take part today!

By the way…if I had unlimited funding and could bid on anything- it would be hard for me to choose. I would love the Brickyard package…but the Stewart-Haas racing tour would be damn fun too. Luckily I don’t have to make that choice.

They don’t have enough SAFER barriers yet.  Not near enough SAFER barriers for what we’re doing here and how close the wall is to the race track.  Hopefully, none of us will have to test that out and see anything. -Tony Stewart

I was just making a comment after last week’s announcement by Richmond (International Raceway). ‘I wonder what other tracks don’t have Safer Barriers.’ Then I came here and saw the inside wall. Hopefully that is the only time I notice it this weekend. – Jeff Gordon

As a fan- this concerned me because here are two of the series top drivers- both taking a big notice of the lack of SAFER barrier. They don’t want to get hurt racing. I don’t want to see them or any driver get hurt out there.  Racing cars at the speeds cup drivers do is an inherently dangerous endeavor to begin with,  so why wouldn’t the drivers want to have all the safety equipment afforded to them? It’s not an unrealistic expectation, at least not to me. I know there have been a lot of advancements in driver safety in NASCAR but the accidents that happen are scary sometimes- so why beg for someone getting hurt?

What REALLY concerned me the most though, was the seemingly flippant reaction to the drivers worrying about the lack of SAFER barrier by track owner Bruton Smith.  Now granted I wasn’t in the media center- so I am basing this solely on tweets from NASCAR media that were in the media center.  When he was asked to address driver concerns about the lack of the SAFER barrier he was quoted by several media in attendance.  Here are a few of their direct quotes from twitter:

After checking into our hotel, Misty and I went to Infineon Raceway Thursday for like 10 minutes- just to pick up our credentials and remind ourselves how to get there because it had been a couple years (2009 to be exact- where the first time we were there we got misguided and ended up in Petaluma).  We returned bright and early Friday morning  got ourselves situated in the media center- grabbed something to drink and headed out to get some pictures before things filled in. We even wandered through the area of concessions behind the grandstands at the Start/Finish line – which was kinda creepy actually since most if not all of them were still closed.  We got a good look at the Infineon Hall of Fame…which honestly should be called the Wall of Fame…but that’s just semantics I guess.

Rick Hendrick, Infineon Hall Of Fame tile (Photo Credit: Misty Bethany)

After a while we headed back to the media center and got ourselves a handy dandy driver availability schedule and sat down and mapped our day according to driver availability.  We didn’t have anything solid planned- so we were just going to drift from driver press conference to driver press conference until the action started.

We started off by catching the tail end of Marcos Ambrose’s driver conference:

Marcos Ambrose and a special young guest, Infineon Raceway Media Center Friday. (Photo Credit: Misty Bethany)

We then moved on to Kurt Busch who let us know in no uncertain terms that he was still upset with Jeff Gordon about last year because Jeff Gordon didn’t apologize to him:

(Kurt Busch Friday at Infineon. (Photo Credit: Misty Bethany)

That made Misty nervous for Jeff all weekend I can tell you that!  Little did we all know that Kurt wouldn’t be the one we would have to worry about (we all know how this story is going to end but more on that in Part 2).  Then Jimmie Johnson talked about his Helmet of Hope program and took media questions:

Jimmie Johnson and the Helmet of Hope (doesn't that sound like a fabulous children's book title?) Friday at Infineon Raceway (Photo Credit: Amy Marbach)

Weird thing about these two press conferences is someone asked both Kurt and Jimmie about Kyle Busch.  I understand asking Kurt…they are brothers after all but not Jimmie. That was just bizarre to me. Now after Jimmie I believe practice was about to get underway.  So we went out into the garage to see what we could see…and ran into Valli from the Fast and the Fabulous (which we always appreciate because we always end up asking for her guidence about something and she is always nice enough to help) and Valli introduced us to Kristen from TheHotPass (whom I might add had a very good weekend considering Kurt ended up winning the race…you can read her fun perspective here).

It was fun watching the cars get lined up in the garage and get ready to go out.  I got some cool shots:

Martin Truex Jr's car in line for first practice. If you look closely in the little side view mirror you can see him in the car. I love this shot. (Photo Credit: Amy Marbach)

Jeff Gordon waits in line for first practice to start. (Photo Credit: Amy Marbach)

Tony waves heading out to first practice at Infineon. (Photo Credit: Amy Marbach)

When I am in the garage like this I always worry about being in someones way.  It’s a little unnerving sometimes but I just try to keep an eye or ear open and between Misty and I, we can usually warn the other if we think we are going to be in somebody’s way.   I thought we did pretty good staying out of the way of crew guys because let me tell you, a hot garage is a busy busy place.  When the cars were rushing in and out of the garage, there was actually a nice place to stand that we scoped out that was kind of between the Jimmie and Carl Edward’s hauler areas by some tires. We were WELL out of the way from the garage stalls which where right across from each hauler. We were standing there between Jimmie and Carl Edwards hauler areas trying to decide what to do next and chatting and I was, of course, snapping pictures here and there…like of this one of Junior coming in for some adjustments:

Junior comes in during first practice, Friday at Infineon. (Photo Credit: Amy Marbach)

Anyway- Misty grabs my arm and is like “LOOK OUT” and kind of pulled me back away even further towards the haulers. Why? Because Jimmie Johnson decided to swing way wide to get into his stall. He hadn’t swung that wide before.  I think personally he was trying to get a rise out of Misty and I (we were the only two there at the moment) but we just hustled back a bit and adjusted our location a little. (Jr apparently did the same thing to Valli and Kristen on Saturday). Maybe Misty and I looked too engrossed in our conversation and weren’t paying Jimmie’s comings and goings enough attention? Either way it didn’t help my complex about being in the way in the garage- thanks Jimmie.

While Misty and I had been in the media center in Las Vegas in March and witnessed the press conferences before our turn at Infineon, we hadn’t really tried our hand at a hauler press conference before.  We decided we would start with the first one of the day, which happened to be none other than Dale Jr (now I am backing up a bit here because now that I think about it I am pretty sure Dale’s was pre-practice and Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon’s were post practice). Talk about a crazy noisy mess.  What am I talking about? Well I am kinda short so at Junior’s press availability this was my view:

My view of the Junior press availability (Photo Credit: Amy Marbach)

I was kind of excited to be able to get that close because I know I have a couple of Junior fans that read BadGroove so I wanted to get some pictures and sound bytes. That was until I got caught up in this mess. I really am not a push/shove, wiggle my way in kinda girl.   I am a more reserved, stay out of every one’s way kinda girl, so between the throng of media and Junior’s staff making sure multiple times that we were indeed suppose to be there- this was mayhem at it’s finest to me (not to mention daunting).  And Junior is apparently pretty soft spoken because I couldn’t, from my vantage point, hear a darn thing that was said. I did however manage to get one semi reasonable picture of Dale on Friday:

Of course, its semi reasonable only in that you can see a majority of his face...and not like a blurry ear and a bunch of other peoples hands which are a majority of my pics from Junior's press. (Photo Credit: Amy Marbach)

After that experience I was a little gunshy to get to Tony Stewart’s after practice hauler press conference. And honestly I don’t have a reason to be that gunshy around Tony, having interviewed the man three times now and him being totally gracious and nice each and every time.  But interviewing Tony at an Office Depot event away from the track is a different (and much much preferred) than interviewing Tony at the hauler because it frankly went fairly similar to the Jr one.  I couldn’t really see Tony, couldn’t really hear him when he was talking, and I was again, stuck in the back and not feeling right or comfortable about needling in between people just to get closer. The only difference was I didn’t get asked repeatedly if I was media.  Having experienced what a GOOD interview experience (or three) with Tony is like – this kinda disheartened me and honestly I kinda gave up after awhile. But I am glad I did (whot? Keep reading, I will explain).

Jeff Gordon happened to be not only the next hauler press conference, but his hauler was right next to Tony’s.  Figuring that Jeff was going to be just as crazy as Junior and Tony,  Misty and I thought if we moved over to Jeff’s early maybe we would get a better vantage when it came to the final hauler press conference of the day. So that is exactly what we did- moved over to Jeff Gordon’s hauler before Tony was done and I was glad we did because I got a couple of awesome shots of Tony from afar after the throngs of press yearning for that perfect Tony quip started thinning out:

Tony Stewart taking media questions at his hauler on Friday at Infineon Raceway. (Photo Credit: Amy Marbach)

Tony Stewart doing media Friday at Infineon Raceway. (Photo Credit: Amy Marbach)

Of course I can’t think too hard about it because then I start regretting not staying and actually talking to Tony for a second.  After the whole deal was over Misty had the same regret.   Because I think as the crowd of media started to thin out, we would have been able ask him a question or two (although would worry that he would have been repeating himself because like I said it is noisy as heck in the garage and I couldn’t really hear him). But hindsight is always 20/20 right?

So then we waited and waited. Jeff Gordon’s press conference thingy was actually like 30 or 40 minutes after Tony’s and Misty and I were standing our ground to get a good shot. Only a couple of TV crews (ESPN) kinda shoved past us- so pretty much we were golden for the Jeff press conference:

Jeff Gordon takes questions from media at the #24 hauler on Friday at Infineon. (Photo Credit: Amy Marbach)

Jeff Gordon Friday at Infineon. (Photo Credit: Amy Marbach)

Interesting things about Jeff’s hauler press conference compared to Tony and Jr.’s.  First off- they hung a backdrop to cover the reflective doors. That was nice from a photography standpoint because less glare. Thank you.  Also? I know Jeff is a little shorter than a lot of the drivers (but still taller than me…but who isn’t) and he stood on the first step going up into his hauler. This made him more visible to us shorties who might be stuck in the back, so thank you again.  Also? Thank you for taking your sunglasses off to talk to us. I always like that.  I know why drivers tend to wear them but I always like when they think to take them off before talking to people (whether those people be press or fans).

After the garage excitement of the day we went back up to the media center to watch qualifying. Then we left.

Stay tuned for Part 2 .