As you can see in the picture, I've now become a Tony Stewart fan. My always-and-forever-love in the racing world is Ricky Rudd, so I first became a full-fledged Kasey Kahne fan when Ricky retired. I've followed Kasey since he drove the 98 car in the then-called Busch Series for Robert Yates Racing, so I've been a fan of his for a long time. Don't get me wrong - I still like Kasey and collect his diecast cars, but there's a difference in Tony that I now understand and admire. On one hand, I like him because of Tami's words-of-wisdom: "Always choose a driver you know you wouldn't be able to take in a fight." lol. On the other hand, he's a racer's racer, and I learned the truth behind that statement in his book. I never knew the hardships he went through to get where he is today, yet he is still one of the most giving people in the sport. That's amazing. His book just made me respect him a lot more and see his passion in a different light, so I decided that he'd be my driver from now on. So... Go Tony. :)
It started raining on us when we were at the driver transporters, and kept on doing that on and off throughout the day... and into the night. Unfortunately, the race was postponed until the next day at noon. That put us in a difficult situation because we were planning on driving back that night after the race was over. Luckilly, though, we ended up finding somewhere to stay and were able to come back to see the second race attempt the next day.
Around noon, the drivers fired up their engines to begin the 50th running of the Coca-Cola 600. They ran for a little while, and then the red flag came out for rain. This happened a few times, so it was frustrating for everyone: the drivers, the crew members, the fans... everyone. When they were racing, though, it was cool to listen to Tony. He is absolutely hilarious on the scanner. As an example, Tony was racing some cars on a restart and went four-wide. He came on the scanner after he made it through and was like, "He, he, he, he, he..." It was so funny because he was cracking up at himself! He came on a few seconds later and said, "I think that was the dumbest thing I've ever done." lol. Then, he and David Reutimann were racing for a position, and David started racing pretty sloppily. Once Tony passed him, he was like, "That little ******, he needs to know this isn't the ******* Nationwide series. Someone needs to tell him that." It probably doesn't seem funny written out, but his tone was hilarious. Come to find out, though, he went over to talk to David during a rain delay. Apparently, one of his crew members started running his mouth, and it turned into a bigger situation than it needed to be. You can check it out on YouTube, though. Just search for "Billy Bad Butt," the nickname Tony gave the crew member, and it will show up.
The coolest thing during the race, though, happened at 3:00 pm. All professional sporting events paused throughout the nation to remember all of our veterans and current people serving in the military. Nascar called a mandatory caution around 2:55 pm, and eventually stopped the entire field around the start-finish line. All of the crew members were lined up on pit road, too. The entire track had 30 seconds of silence, and it was surely a powerful feeling being there during that time, knowing that everyone in the entire country was observing this time for our soldiers. I looked at the Sprint Screen in the middle of the infield and saw one of the drivers holding up an American flag at the camera, and it made me realize even more that they're just as proud of our soldiers and our country as us "regular" people are. When the 30 seconds were up, some people started chanting, "USA, USA, USA..." It didn't really catch on for the entire track, but it was cool to feel everyone's thankfulness for our soldiers and pride for our country. Tony came on the radio and said, "That could be one of the coolest things I've ever seen." His crew chief, Darian Grubb, said, "Yeah, I'm still trying to shake off the goosebumps... Now we know why you wanted that flag so bad." I realized then that the driver on the screen was actually Tony. How cool - my new favorite driver expressing his love for our country by having a flag in his car. Just plain awesome. :) If you want to see the video of the memorial, click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dlWJZ-7AMQ.
After a two-hour rain delay, the race was called. There was too much rain in the area, so David Reutimann ended up winning because of a pit strategy that put them in the front of the field. Kasey had ran in the top 3 the entire day and finished 7th because of the pit strategies of the other drivers; Tony ran around 10th and finished 19th. I guess that's just how racing goes - you never know what's going to happen. I've decided, though, that if I can pull it off, I want to go back to Charlotte this fall for their second race of the season. It's not a long drive from my house, and the racing is absolutely awesome. Until then, though, I'll be looking forward to Atlanta's Labor Day race weekend. :)
