Jimmie Won - And I was There!

I was originally supposed to go to the races at PIR this weekend but then I thought I would go to San Carlos. Then, I decided not to go to San Carlos but was still going to pass on the races because I am so very busy right now.

But, then I got an offer I couldn't refuse. We recently started using FedEx at work for shipping out of our California facility and as a thank you, FedEx gave us two corporate passes and tickets to the Cup race on Sunday. Included in the deal: pit pass tour, race day scanners, seat cushion, food and drink, meet and greet with Denny Hamlin, gift bag which included a tee shirt, hat, die cast cars and race program in addition to the grandstand seats.

I asked The Rocket Scientist if he wanted to go with me (of course, he said yes) and I was the crazy one to suggest we leave at 6 AM to miss the traffic. That's way too early for me but it was a good move. We got there in good time and got to spend an hour shopping at the merchandise haulers before the gates opened at 8.

I bought a JJ koozie (in pink), a Race Princess koozie (in pink), a new magnet for the fridge in my Jimmie Johnson kitchen, a cool Peace, Love and NASCAR pin, JJ bottle opener, JJ 2006 Championship ornament and a 48 mousepad. I was a little disappointed that they didn't have more JJ jewelry or any hair accessories.

I liked seeing Jimmie in the first position on the Chase Leader's board. He's so cute!

Obligatory picture of me with Jimmie's merchandise hauler. I like the new addition from last year: the 2006 Champion logo.

I had the picture taken mostly as a joke since I'm so not a Junior fan. However, he's going to be our teammate next year so I guess I'll have to root for him now.

Denny Hamlin was very good about signing and posing for pictures with everyone in the corporate tent. He's actually pretty cute...and young. He's definitely moved up in my list of drivers to root for.

After our pit road tour, we were free to roam around. Of course, I had to stop by Jimmie's spot. Unfortunately, no one was out working yet nor did they have the car rolled out.

Victory Lane is not all that big. I had a feeling Jimmie was going to end up there before the day was over but I was also pretty nervous about the race. Jimmie only had a 30 point lead on Jeff Gordon and that's not very big.

This is the stand where they do the driver introductions. Besides just getting announced, the drivers are given checks for bonuses earned in the previous week from various sponsors. Jimmie got a check for $30,000 from someone.

This was the view from our seats. We were just past turn four so I got to see a lot of passing right before the start/finish line. We were with all the FedEx people and a lot of them weren't really race fans so they took off early. That was nice for us as we got space to move about. The seats are really close up there so any room you can get is great.

A pic of Jimmie in the lead at the end of the race. At one point, Carl Edwards was leading with Jimmie in second and I was a little worried that Jimmie wouldn't catch him. Unfortunately for Carl, his engine gave out. Then, Matt Kenseth got in front but had to stop to change a tire. At that point, I knew that Jimmie was Golden. He never looked back and it was never in doubt after that point. It was so fun cheering and counting down the final laps!

The whole day was pretty much perfect. The icing on the cake was calling Lewie afterwards and hearing him wish car trouble on Jimmie next week. Ain't gonna happen!