The 2009 Prelude may have been delayed but it was worth the wait! During the driver introduction laps Tony  was thankful that the weather was perfect for racing and that most of the drivers were able to rearrange their schedules after the original June 3rd date was rained out. Missing from the lineup were Jeff Gordon, Dave Blaney, Carl Edwards, and Bill Elliott for either scheduling or injury reasons.

Heat race winners were: Jimmie Johnson (driving a car owned by Clint Bowyer), Kasey Kahne and Aric Armirola.  Joey Logano totalled the rear end of his car during his heat race- beyond repair. He ended up driving Tony’s backup car in the Main. Denny Hamlin did not make it to the Main despite wicked fast times in the hot laps and during his heat race because of a bent valve pusher.  The disappointed Hamlin was the only driver not to start the Main.  During the 30 lap Main, Tony started 6th but quickly made his way towards the front of the pack, finally passing Kenny Wallace for the lead just before the halfway point.  Once Tony got to the lead, much like last year, he checked out and was virtually unstoppable.  The real race was between Bowyer and Wallace for second place, when Wallace spun his tires on a restart and Bowyer ran into the back of him, cutting his tire. The racing was close and fast and fun on the TV I can only imagine what going to the race was like in person!

Again all the money raised from ticket sales, pay-per-view fees will be split evenly among four military charities that support wounded soldiers and their families.  If you want to help but weren’t able to make it to the prelude or watch it on pay per view, you can donate using your cell phone by texting PRELUDE to 90999. The donation will be $5.00 and will be added to your next cell phone bill.

Notes about the Prelude:

• Clint Bowyer may not have gotten the win that he wanted- but I think he should get a special prize for having the shiniest race car! That #33 car was GOLD as in Metallic. It was actually quite pretty and I have never been a fan of gold (cars or jewlery).
• Joey Logano trashed his car…and then crashed Tony’s back up car.  Good think Tony didn’t need it.  But in his defense when he was driving he was doing pretty good for the most part. Until he hit the wall.
• Speaking of hitting the wall, too bad Jimmie hit the wall- he seemed to be a real contender until he did that.

I can’t wait until Next Year’s Prelude.

Just a quick note to remind you all of a great opportunity to help injured soldiers and the families of fallen soldiers who work hard to keep us free!

The rescheduled Prelude To The Dream charity dirt race is on Pay Per View tomorrow at 7 pm ET.  DirecTV viewers can order it on channel 121…but it should be available on all cable and satellite systems. Order it up and enjoy some high quality dirt racing with some of the highest caliber drivers (and not just NASCAR) around.  The drivers get to race for the pure joy of the competition and the win.  They race for a cool trophy and the insane bragging rights. Proceeds will be split evenly among a list of military charities.

I have mentioned this a lot but I wanted to revisit it again. A lot of drivers have charitable foundations that do great things that are not only fun for fans but help capitalize on the love of their fans for the greater good.

Here are three great examples of things coming up (of course these are all Tony Stewart Related):

The Prelude To The Dream.  I talked about the Prelude A WHOLE LOT last season. I haven’t been doing it quite as much this season. Do I think anything has changed? NO! I am still GREATLY looking forward to the race on Wednesday. One day I will go in person.  What is so great about this race? Let me tell you: Lots of Big Name Drivers (Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Casey Mears, Kasey Kahne, Ron Capps (NHRA), Cruz Pedregon (NHRA), Ray Evernham, Bill Elliot, are just a few.  ON DIRT. For no money, no points…just a trophy and bragging rights. I have ordered it on PPV for the last three years and have NEVER been disappointed. The cause this year are four charities that support injured and fallen military heroes- all proceeds go to these four charities. The goal this year? A million dollars.  If you can afford it- check out the PPV race (Channel 125 for DirecTV customers, for others check your listings. THIS IS THIS WEDNESDAY.

Invest N Vests. A collaborative effort between the Tony Stewart Foundation and The Greg Biffle Foundation to raise funds for to outfit 192 K-9 officers with bullet and knife resistant vests.  For each $10.00 donation fans are entered for a chance to win 25 percent of the pot (the rest going to www.vest4k9.com).  At this writing the pot is currently at $14,680.00.  The drawing is on Wednesday June 16th. Both the Tony Stewart Foundation and The Greg Biffle Foundation are committed to animal causes.

Smoke’s Camaro. Capitalizing on the love of cars many NASCAR fans have The Tony Stewart Foundation is having a raffle of a 2010 Camaro. Raffle tickets are limited (currently there are only 5,926 left out of 6014 available raffle tickets).   The winner not only wins Tony’s 2010 Chevrolet Camaro (in Victory Red), but they win a trip for two to Charlotte, NC and a personal tour of the Stewart-Haas Racing Shop as well as a lunch where Tony will present you with the keys himself (you also get money to help offset the cost of fees, licensing and taxes). Buy your raffle ticket early to also be included in the running for early bird prizes as well.  Camaro drawing is on October 5th, 2009. Proceeds raised by raffle will go directly to the Tony Stewart Foundation to provide funding for children, animals and injured drivers in need.