It was not what I'd call a "typical" weather racing day at Martinsville yesterday. Some observations. More people wore insulated hunting clothes and ski atire than they did NASCAR driver T-shirts and jackets (except for driver ball caps which most had on, albeit coupled with ear warmers). There was far less beer consumed than coffee and hot chocolate, but the famous Martinsville hot dogs still sold in their usual large numbers. God smiled upon all the brave fans who attended (there were empty seats, but still the crowd was over 65,000) by giving us an exciting race with many lead changes, and typical small track excitement found only at Martinsville, Bristol and Richmond. Hendricks Motor Sports drivers (above photo I took of Dale Earnhardt, Jr No. 88 car leaving his pit during the race), Jeff Gordon, Jimmy Johnson and Casey Mears all finished in the top seven with Gordon second. Dale Jr. lead the most laps of any driver which made about 90% of the fans in the stands extremely happy, even if he didn't win (he finished sixth). The driver I root to lose each week (Kyle Busch) finished last, and made about as many driver mistakes as I've seen, including almost driving into the wall near the exit to pit road (he had to stop and back up which caused most of the people sitting near me to howl with laughter). Denny Hamlin (a Virginia driver No. 11 Fedex car) won the race and that was good. Temperature hovered at 40 degrees with a 10-15 mph cold east wind and mist throughout the race. That's almost 30 degrees colder than normal! As an aside, I wore exactly the same type of clothes I wore during my last trip to Alaska, including long underwear, several layers and outer rain gear. But, I'd really feel sad and regretful today if I'd have missed it all, by staying home and watching it on TV. Nothing compares to NASCAR up close, even when the weather is not what you want.
