After two years of asking to go to the K&N East race
at Dover International Speedway, I finally got to go this past Friday for the
American Real TV 150 - and trust me, I was extremely happy that I went!
Leaving my house at 6:19 (I know, I pay way too much
attention to detail) in the morning, my dad and I arrived at the Monster Mile at
around 9:30, a half hour before the gates opened. I took that valuable half hour and filmed a
part of my video blog (the link for the finished video will be posted at the
end). Honestly, filming a video blog at
the track is one of the coolest feelings ever; even though fighting the music
playing wasn't too fun. Once I was finished filming the opening segment,
we headed into the stands to watch some of qualifying; and when I say I stood
near the fence, I mean, I stood near the fence:
(A) I could look into the car and see the driver as they drove past and
(B) I think I went deaf. When qualifying
was all said and done, Darrell Wallace, Jr. won the 21 Means 21 Coors Light Pole
Award.
If you've been a follower of this blog for a while,
you've come to learn one very important fact about me: I love
food. I also love Grotto Pizza, so being
at Dover was a win-win in that respect. After
we finished watching qualifying, my dad and I headed over to Grotto Pizza (one
of the main reasons I love going to Dover) to get a pizza. Once we finished the pizza, it was noon, and
since I wanted to go to the K&N East autograph signing and there was
already a line, we got on line. It seemed
like it was a million degrees and I was tired, so I took a seat on the ground
and waited there for the autograph session to start. Big props to the drivers for getting there a
half hour early; most Truck Series drivers are late to their meet and greets -
and yes, I have one driver in mind.
After meeting all twenty-six drivers, yes, you read that
correctly, twenty-six…there were only two drivers that weren't able to make it
due to Nationwide practice - Ryan Blaney and Darrell Wallace, Jr. It's crazy to think that I was around the
same age the majority of the drivers in the race…is that even normal? I digress.
My dad went to go take pictures, so I stood there awkwardly drinking my
lemonade and scrolling through my twitter feed when one of my NASCAR friends
and NASCAR Corner followers, Randall, recognized me and came over to say
hello. Earlier in the week, I posted on
the blog that I was going to give away two tickets to the Nationwide race since
we couldn't use them, and whoever found me first would get the tickets. Luckily for Randall, he was the first person
to find me and he was the winner of the two tickets.
At 4:30 the race started and when I say it was an
exciting race, it was an exciting race.
Within the first 75 laps, there were SEVEN
cautions and, thankfully, no one was hurt.
The best part of the race? The
last few laps. On lap 147, Corey LaJoie
and Brandon McReynolds got together battling for the lead; McReynolds got into
the back of the No. 07 of LaJoie, pulling off the majority of the bumper
cover. The bumper cover was left hanging
by a thread and if LaJoie didn't either (A) get it off of the car himself or
(B) pit to get it taken off, he would have been black-flagged and would have
lost the race. Thankfully for Corey, the
No. 46 of Brandon Gdovic, who was the free-pass, was able to hit the bumper
cover, knocking it off, allowing LaJoie to keep his lead, and getting the
"Monster" win. See what I did
there?
This was Corey's fourth win of the season, all of these
wins coming in the last eight races. The
American Real TV 150 win propelled LaJoie to the second place in the points
standings - one point behind Kyle Larson.
Brett Moffitt, who was the points leader going into Dover, fell to the
third position in the points standings after having to change a battery during
the race.
If you're interested in watching this exciting race, tune
into the SPEED Channel this Thursday, October 4, at 3:00 p.m. ET.
Finally, my latest video blog, featuring qualifying, practice, drivers, pictures, and everything else is below.
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