NASCAR from Michigan - Carfax 200 and 3M Performance 400 - BIG POST!!

[Jaedon]

2 days of racing with the Carfax 200 on Saturday (Nationwide series) and the 3M performance (Sprint Cup series) on Sunday left me with over 1800 shots in post. I had a few issues with lighting as the sun was in and out of the clouds all day but in the end it was an enjoyable weekend with loud cars and hot women all around..

Here are my favourites. Most of them are wrecks.. but isn't that what NASCAR is all about? lol

Carfax 200 - Saturday's Nationwide race - August 16th 2008
Steven Wallace hit the wall before the completion of the first lap:


Acting in anger he spun the car around in the garage:




Then he tossed his helmet out of the car in frustration:


He came back out into the race to complete his first lap after everyone else had completed 85 laps and was not a factor in the rest of the race.

Goodyear showing their presence all weekend. Here they are anchored to a cloud above the race =P :


Lots of shots of the pits:






David Ragan spun around on the back stretch placing himself nicely between the fence posts for my shot =) :








The 23 car spun on the back stretch while I was changing batteries but I got him as he entered pit road:




Here's a nice example of the lighting conditions I faced all day:


David Reutiman is heading into the wall after blowing a tire in turn 2 here:


Hitting the wall:


Right side damage:


Following the oil trail of those who wrecked before him:


My favourite shot for the day- Patrick Carpentier leaving the pits with a little smokey burnout:


Near the end of the race Carl Edwards checked out from the field and the race to watch was these 4 cars battling it out for 2nd, 3rd , 4th and 5th:
Tony Stewart leads:


Brian Vickers Leads one lap later:


Tony holds off Mark Martin:


And the race finished under caution after the white flag had been waved giving Carl Edwards the win:


In celebration he spins through the grass on the front stretch:






Climbs onto the door and raises his arms to the crowd:


And backflips off the car onto the grass:





3M Performance 400 - Sunday's Sprint Cup Race - Aug 17 - 2008
The #21 Car blew an engine very early in the race bringing out the first caution:


42 cars in the field being led by the pace car after the first caution:


Dale Jr leading the race in the early stages:


Dave Blaney hit the wall later on in the race providing me with my best shots of the day IMHO:
Hitting the wall:


Scraping along the wall for about 150 - 200 feet:


The Marshal waves the caution flag in front of the wreck:


Front view of the damage: (My favourite shot form Sunday)


Rear view of the damage:




5 and 6 wide racing into turn 3 coming straight at me made for some nice racing and a few bumps and scrapes:






Kurt Busch made an excellent save late in the race as he spun out in the grass and kept himself from wrecking on the inside wall:


Denny Hamlin blew an engine late in the race:




This caution gave Carl Edwards the chance to get around David Ragan one last time which was all he needed to regain and hold the lead to the end of the race.


Carl Edwards swept the weekends racing. Only Mark Martin has ever done this before at Michigan back in 1993 while he was also driving for Roush fenway racing.

[ciddog91]

Nice Job....

I was listening to the race on the radio while I was driving around at work yesterday. I was wishing I was there.

[JSPhoto]

Nice job there, looks like you had fun. I like the 5 wide.

JS

[Jaedon]

Thanks guys. I definitely had a lot of fun. We brought a friend of mine from highschool as well as my cousin for their first race ever. My cousin is a Carl Edwards fan so he was completely in his element all weekend.

Any suggestion on edits of the images I posted? After sifting through a weekends worth of images my eyes are numb lol.