Fans In The Stands - My Michigan Experience.

Every time Michigan International Speedway rolls around, I get so excited. MIS is my favorite track. The track is so much fun to be at and the staff is wonderful. They have so much that fans can do at the track and have made this a fan-friendly environment. I just love going to MIS.

The race day started out normal for me, wake up early and be out on the road before 7 a.m... Michigan International Speedway is only about two and half hours away from Warsaw, IN, so my mom and I always stop at the same Cracker Barrel restaurant on the way to MIS. I encourage all of you to eat at Cracker Barrel is you are ever near one, it’s delicious! After we ate breakfast, we were back on the road and headed towards the track. We were about 4 miles from the track and we hit traffic. Which is kind of normal but we normally don’t hit traffic.



After we parked and got our race bags ready, we headed towards the discount tents! You can find great deals in the tents but I only bought a shirt because I wanted to save my money for the souvenir trailers! We left the discount tents and headed towards the souvenir trailers. We stopped at Kyle Busch’s, Denny Hamlin’s, Jimmie Johnson’s, Joey Logano’s, and Clint Bowyer’s. I only bought a tank top from Kyle’s trailer because I’m just one of those people who can’t make up their minds and want everything! All of the other souvenir trailers were having sales, but Kyle’s wasn’t which made me mad! Haha! My mom got three shirts which I was happy about because she normally doesn’t get anything. We walked around some more and it was starting to get humid and sticky but the sun would only peak through sometimes. We walked around till we found the Sprint Experience Tent! Since we are Sprint customers, we got to get free gifts! We each got a Sprint Cup bag, hat, sticker, and a lanyard. We also got to take this quiz about the 2009 season. I scored 5 out of 5 and my mom scored 4 out of 5!

It was getting close to race time, so we decided to go and find our seats. We always sit in Turn 1 and we love sitting there. This time, we were around a lot of people. Which was alright but it was still humid and my mom didn’t want to sit there anymore so we moved down to where some empty seats were. Before we moved, a couple rows in front of us was a guy who looked just like Dale Earnhardt! I mean, it was shocking! I’m kicking myself now that I didn’t take a picture of him!

Driver introductions started, Kyle came around and I screamed my head off. I must add that when Kevin Harvick came around, I yelled “TEAM LOGANO!”. I seriously doubt he heard me but had to get it out there! The flyover came and went, then it was time for the command. Adam Sandler and Kevin James are two of my favorite actors and I was so excited that they were there! Their command was amazing and everyone around me loved it! Before their command, you could hear Adam Sandler say into the microphone “Michigan” several times in his iconic voice! I loved it!

It was race time and my mom and I had our scanners so we could listen to our favorite drivers! For some reason, my moms scanner wasn’t switching to Sprint Cup because it was stuck on Nationwide radios from when we went to Nashville in April. She had to run down the radio and scanner trailer to get it fixed. While she did that, I moved our stuff down to the empty seats. Without my scanner, I listened to the engines roar as they went by and loved it. My mom finally came back with the scanner fixed and then I programmed the numbers for my favorite driver’s radios. I listened to Kyle Busch most of the time, but I would switch around to Denny, Joey, Carl, and Clint. As the race went on, Denny Hamlin showed his strength and went to the lead. I was completely happy. Denny Hamlin is my second favorite driver. As Denny soared to the lead, Kyle was stuck. For awhile, he would be gaining ground and then he would be losing ground. I was upset because I just wanted to see Kyle run well at MIS. He hit the wall twice and I knew it was over for him.

The checkered flagged waved and it was Denny Hamlin crossing the finish line first! I was just so excited and happy! This was my second time seeing Denny win in person. Seeing him win at Martinsville in 2008 was amazing but seeing him win at my home track was bitter sweet. I’m so proud of Denny Hamlin and the #11 crew!

As we walked to the car, my shoulders, chest, and face were sun burnt as always. We got out of the parking lot fast and we headed south to Indiana. I had a great time even though I woke up Monday morning with blisters on my shoulders, but I have had worse sunburns...The Brickyard! I can't wait to go back to Michigan International Speedway in August!


Picture #1 - The cars rolling off Pit Road!
Picture #2 - The Sprint Experience Tent!
Picture #3 - Kyle Busch during Driver Introductions!
Picture #4 - Denny Hamlin's Burnout!