2009 Daytona 500 Pics

[XLjedi]

My family and I attended the 2009 Daytona 500 :D

Was kind of an anti-climactic ending being red-flagged after 152 laps... but we had a good time anyway. :yeah:
http://www.xl-logic.com/pics/hobby/Daytona/Daytona_01.JPG

View of the main grandstands from our seats on the backstretch.
http://www.xl-logic.com/pics/hobby/Daytona/Daytona_03.JPG

F-15 flyover before start
http://www.xl-logic.com/pics/hobby/Daytona/Daytona_04.JPG

The Chevy Camaro pace car was driven by Tom Cruise
http://www.xl-logic.com/pics/hobby/Daytona/Daytona_05.JPG

Pace lap coming around turn 2
http://www.xl-logic.com/pics/hobby/Daytona/Daytona_07.JPG

My son posing with cars rounding turn 2 and heading down the back "superstretch"
http://www.xl-logic.com/pics/hobby/Daytona/Daytona_08.JPG

Daytona is a 2.5 mile track so they do 200 laps for the 500 mile race. Most people don't have an appreciation for just how big the track is when they only see it on TV.
http://www.xl-logic.com/pics/hobby/Daytona/Daytona_09.JPG

The back superstretch with turn 3 and 4 in the background
http://www.xl-logic.com/pics/hobby/Daytona/Daytona_10.JPG

moving slow under caution
http://www.xl-logic.com/pics/hobby/Daytona/Daytona_11.JPG

[Syxx_Killer]

Great pics. I didn't get to see the race. I got home just in time to see them red flag it and declare Kenseth the winner. I really only wanted to see the Camaro pace car, anyway. :88)

[XLjedi]

Kenseth started the race in 39th position (makes history as worst starting position to ever win Daytona) and managed to find himself leading the race after a few mishaps that took out several of the top contenders. I think he may have actually been in that first position for just a few seconds before the caution flag came out.

I wasn't too impressed with Dale Jr's effort. Makes a couple pitting mistakes, puts himself down a lap and then he causes a 9-car pile up in front of the entire field battling with Vickers for nothing. Sure were a lot of Jr fans at the track though. That wreck took out Kyle Busch who had previously led the race for 88 laps. :nope:

[Kapt Z]

I wasn't too impressed with Dale Jr's effort. Makes a couple pitting mistakes, puts himself down a lap and then he causes a 9-car pile up in front of the entire field battling with Vickers for nothing. Sure were a lot of Jr fans at the track though. That wreck took out Kyle Busch who had previously led the race for 88 laps. :nope:

Yes, what was up with Jr???

I'm a F1 fan, but I keep my hand in with NASCAR and Indycar and I couldn't figure out why Jr was making rookie mistakes and especially 'pitting' Vickers when they were both a lap down.:hmmm:

[longam]

Yea Jr was pissed because of mistakes he made... but you can watch a recap of the race over at Nascar.com, has all the good stuff compacted into 15 mins.

Great pics, I want to go to Michigan this year. its closer and wouldn't have to fly.

[XLjedi]

One thing I learned from the experience though...

Before every NASCAR race I'll be checking the weather forecast now. If there's a 50% chance of rain or better it's a whole different kind of race. In fact, the crew chiefs have weather radar in the pits and if they see an approaching weather cell the drivers get real aggressive. Everyone wants to be that lead car when the rain starts.

The teams were keenly aware of the fact that the race was very likely going to end with a rainout; the forecast called for 60% chance of showers. So you can't just completely discount Kenseths victory, they were all gunnin for it pretty hard. In fact Sadler (the guy who was leading just before Kenseth took over) even made the comment to his crew chief over the radio that it was raining on the radar but not on the track.

[Pioneer]

I'm assuming from the photos that you were sitting right on top of the start of Junior -vs- Vickers "It's MY yellow line" incident.

And get your son a real jacket, one with a black #3 on it. :O:

[XLjedi]

I'm assuming from the photos that you were sitting right on top of the start of Junior -vs- Vickers "It's MY yellow line" incident.

And get your son a real jacket, one with a black #3 on it. :O:

Yeah that happened a little further down the stretch (upper right corner of my turn 3-4 photo) on the approach to turn 3. They were scattered all over that brown grassy area.

For the record, I did not have any influence over my son's decision on the Gordon jacket. That was his big souvenir purchase for the day. Basically, I think he liked black with flames on the sleeves better than the green & white Amp Energy colors. I thought he'd go for the M&M jacket, but probably a good thing he didn't as it seemed unpopular amongst the crowd.

Definitely seemed to be a favoring of Jr in the crowd, followed by Gordon fans. ...and an almost universal hatred of all things in M&M packaging. I couldn't believe the cheers when they showed Kyle Busch's car with the frontend smashed in.

[Happy Times]

Wow! Good pictures, thats one event ive wanted to experience since i saw the movie Days of Thunder as a kid.:DL

[Kapt Z]

Wow! Good pictures, thats one event ive wanted to experience since i saw the movie Days of Thunder as a kid.:DL

Being at a big track like Daytona is something special. I've never been there, but I have seen the Indy 500 twice in the early '90s and it really was wild.:woot:

[Hitman]

If there's one thing you americans know how to do well, that's a spectacle :up: I have always loved the NASCAR, Indycar Series, CART (RIP) more than the Formula 1 of these last decade :yep:

The Daytona 500 and the Indy 500 are the peaks of that beautiful american racing :yeah: , long live them :salute:

[XLjedi]

This year, all the North American Championship races are being hosted at the Miami Speedway (http://www.homesteadmiamispeedway.com/552070.html) in Homestead. I'd like to at least go down there for an IRL race, but now I'm debating whether or not to just by the season pass for $130 so I can see all 6 races over the two weekends. :hmmm:

[Falkirion]

I'm a tad annoyed I didn't get to watch the 500, living down here in Australia only one channel covers Nascar and its on early morning. Managed to catch 5 laps of it before I left for work. I was wondering how well Marcus Amrbose would do, but when I checked he was sitting down in 39/40th, and Kyle Busch was leading (At least I think he was, he was in the MM's car wasnt he?) Glad to see Ambrose landed up 17th by the end of it though, good to see an Aussie doing well in a foreign series.

Now if only Webber could get a decent car under him, I might be a bit more interested in F1. I started watching that back in 96 when the F1 championship came to Melbourne. Good championship that year, 97 was great too as it went down to the wire in Jerez between Schumacher and Villenueve.