I attended the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway. My dad is better now after having quadruple bypass surgery last year, so I took him back to MIS as I had such an awesome time there last year. We had the whole package for tickets this time. Pit passes, driver intro passes, and tickets to the Arca, Xfinity and Cup series races.
Most of my autographs came during the Pre-race driver introduction pass that we bought. Once the drivers were announced, some of them signed for the fans on their way to their cars. I was pretty luck this year again, and I also got a bunch of autographs that I haven't gotten before.
Martin Truex Jr. signed a card for me. He is having an awesome season so far, with a small race team. He is already locked in for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Trevor Bayne signed card. Trevor has moved over to the Roush team this year, but everyone seems to be struggling on that team.
David Gilliland signed race used shoe card. I pulled this out of a box last year, so it was neat to get this signed.
Brad Keselowski signed card. I don't mind "Bad Brad" too much. I know he took some major flak last year for the incident with Jeff Gordon. I love Jeff, but I gotta say, there was a hole there for Brad to take, and he took it. I can't say as though I blame him. It sucked that Jeff ended up wrecking out and losing any chance for the Cup, but it was Jeff's mistake.
Matt DiBenedetto signed card. Matt drives for BK Racing, which I am throughly convinced that they are just happy in having their logo on a car. They are never competitive, which is a shame.
Now for the holy grail for this weekend. This was the last autograph that I got during the Driver intros. As he was coming towards me, I was desperately fumbling through my pics trying to get the right one out. I ended up just getting it out there as he got to me. Anyway, I know there are plenty of people out there that would love to have this autograph. There aren't any drivers more popular that Dale Earnhardt Jr., and I now have his autograph in my collection.
We watched qualifying from the pit area. It is an awesome way to watch it. You get to see what teams are doing out there between runs and see what they are doing to the cars to get a bit more speed out of them. There are usually plenty of people down there, so autographs are few and far between.
I got Matt Kenseth to sign a card right after his qualifying run was over.
On our way out of the pit area, we spotted Carl Edwards signing autographs. He literally signed for everyone that was in there, and then walked along a fence area and signed for everyone there, and even posing for some pictures. Carl is a true class act.
I didn't have a card for J.J. Yeley, but since he was practically standing right beside me, I had him sign my pit pass. He races for BK Racing as well.
Kasey Kahne had won the pole. Jeff and him sorta got out of their cars at the same time, so when Jeff headed out of the pit area, everyone followed him. I got him last year, so I figured I would take a shot at Kasey. He came right towards me, so I just stayed where I was. He grabbed my picture and signed it, and just after, he was completely mobbed.
I have said it before, and I will say it again. Michigan International Speedway is the place to go. I know they had some pissed off people due to the rain out, but I was ok with it. They gave it their all that day, and honestly, coming back the next day would have been hell for us. We would have had to watch the race, and then drive 7 hours home. They do an amazing job at keeping the fan experience, the best that I have seen at any track.
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