Kansas Speedway 2011 Sprint Cup Race Weekend

This is the perfect race picture - in my Above Average Race Fan opinion! Even though the flag reads backwards, it still says where we are, and the cars in the background hint at what's to come - another spectacular race weekend!
We heard all kinds of great news too! Another Cup race for Kansas - in June. We did lose the Indy cars, but I just can't imagine anything better than 2 CUP RACES IN ONE SEASON!!!
ARCA race was first on the menu, and we were greeted by the sight of lights lining the grandstand. James has been working close to the speedway most of the summer and had told me all about them, but it's so much better to see them from the inside. But - the day wasn't without it's snaffu's... When meeting at the track, Sheryl brought back one of their extra handicapped parking tickets, hoping we could get a little closer to the track - access denied! I know better than to try that, but oh well, nice thought Sheryl, but whenever I try to do anything off the straight and narrow I get caught!

And - the scoring tower didn't work! Bless their hearts, they tried to fix it all afternoon, to no avail. Since none of us follow ARCA that closely, it was a little difficult to follow the race without the tower. But not impossible. We were prepared for an exciting race, there were only 20 points separating the top 3, with two races to go...

It was a fairly uneventful race until lap 14, when Ty Dillion came out of the last pit stop 1st. He lost the lead shortly after the restart - rookie error, then rallied back to win the race. Victory circle was cool, Ty said he had to go back to school the next day! Grandfather Richard Childress says, "This is gonna get expensive!" Thanks for the burnout, Ty!
As soon as the race was over we hurried home, Kathy Beth had to get ready for Jimmie Jam! Pam Hardeman met her at our house, and they were off to Union Station. They had a great time - check out the pics on Jimmie Johnson's page...

Most of the crew went out to Kansas Speedway to watch Qualifying and Trackside, while James and I (NASCarla) drove a few miles north on 4-35 to watch the Dirt fly at the annual Clyde Ellis Late Model Showdown and Modified Shootout Lakeside Speedway! A couple of the Cup drivers usually race on Friday night, this year we got to watch our local drivers mix it up with Kenny Wallace, Kenny Schrader and Clint Bowyer. The parking lots and stands are always packed, but I'm pretty race-savvy by this time - we buy reserved seats in April :)
Kenny Schrader won the Modified Shootout, and Clint Bowyer's Late Model team came in 1st and 2nd, and I got real lucky, meeting Kenny Wallace on Friday night, while my oh-so-generous husband snapped our picture - how great do I have it??? Kenny and James talked about Terry Bivins, James' Dad - "I'll never forget, Terry Bivins from Shawnee Mission, Kansas!" Cool. For the last couple of years we have toughed it out for the Friday and Saturday night dirt races... Older and wiser, we saved our strength for the Nationwide and Cup races - it's all good!

We had decided to do things a little different this year - instead of tailgating before the race, we met at our seats and then partied when the race was over... So, everybody got to see driver intro's. Here's our girl Jennifer Cobb, always a Kansas Crowd favorite. Picture to the right of Jen is Randy, I guess the confusion of the turned-around tailgating feast messed with his head, "Hey Randy, you're in the wrong section!"
For most of the race it looked like this would be another 'Kyle Busch Show'. It all changed in the final laps - I was on the edge of my seat (I had Joey as my driver in the Driver's Pot, $36 was on the line...). On the last lap of a Green/White/Checkered, Joey dove down on the apron and got his nose in front of Keseloski's by 0.315 secs! The little Busch friend sitting directly in front of us just looked on in shock. Sorry Kid - I myself am a bigger fan of Kyle's than of Joey - but I gotta go where the money is!
Now it's Tailgating Time! We're famished by the time we get to our rides - doesn't take too long to unpack the goodies and fire up the grill. Tina out-did herself this year - see how the sun shines down in praise - the best cookies ever! I know, we say that about every dish, but it's true! See the picture on the far right - even the angels agree, see the golden glow of approval...

We pulled into the parking lots bright and early Sunday morning, guided into our spots by Randy Wayman. After a quick group photo (missing is Tina Morton, the gal behind the camera), we sauntered to the track. Lots to do this day, we all had Track Passes, so we were in a hurry to get to the infield. On the way in, Zach scored big-time with a Greg Biffle autograph! Even if you're not a fan - it's always a thrill to get signed by an actual NASCAR driver! James and I snaggled our way to the front of the stage for the Pre-race concert - 38 Special! Rusty and Tina stalked Kasey, and Zack was after Jeff Gordon... We can't say how he did it, but he came back with an autograph from the man and had seen the inside of Jeff's hauler - WoW! The concert was excellent, and after the crowd behind me yelled at the short woman in front of me for holding up a "Marry Me Dale Jr." sign, I was able to snap a bunch of pictures of drivers during the introductions! When that was over they herded us back to our seat, the green flag dropped, and the race was on!