Everything is bigger in Texas and that includes photo ops. Before we do this thing called the Samsung 500 we must first take a moment to look back at the promotional opportunities that were:

Note to self: Purchase Foreigner’s greatest hits CD. I just saw them on some show on A&E and they performed “Cold As Ice” and I realized how much I really like that song.

Foreigner chief songwriter /guitarist/keyboardist and founding member Mick Jones and lead singer Kelly Hansen reflect on the experience after taking a ride in a Team Texas stock car at Texas Motor Speedway Monday, March 30, 2009. The band is headlining the AMDRO Fire Ant Bait Pre-Race Show beginning at 11:35 a.m. CT, prior to the start of the Samsung 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday, April 5th at Texas Motor Speedway. (Photo By Tom Pennington/Getty Images for the Texas Motor Speedway)

Nice socks, Kyle!

Kyle Petty tees off during the AutoTrader.com Gears & Greens Charity Golf Classic on April 2, 2009 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images for Texas Motor Speedway)

NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin and Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten make contact while racing around the track at SpeedZone in Dallas, Texas on Wednesday, April 1, 2009. The pair were racing to raise awareness for the March of Dimes and the 2009 March for Babies. (Photo By Tom Pennington/Getty Images for the Texas Motor Speedway)

Notice how Jason Witten is speaking to a million members of the media and over in the right-hand side Denny Hamlin is speaking to three dudes. I just thought that was funny.

Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten (center) talks with the media after racing NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin around the track at SpeedZone in Dallas, Texas Wednesday, April 1, 2009. The pair were racing to raise awareness for the March of Dimes and the 2009 March for Babies. (Photo By Tom Pennington/Getty Images for the Texas Motor Speedway)

In honor of being inducted into the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame Bobby Labonte got to take an awkward looking photo with Kyle Busch.

NASCAR driver Kyle Busch and driver Bobby Labonte unveil a throw-back paint scheme on the #18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry during the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame Banquet held Wednesday, April 1, 2009 at The Speedway Club at Texas Motor Speedway. The paint scheme is the same scheme that Labonte drove during his 2000 Championship year. (Photo By Tom Pennington/Getty Images for the Texas Motor Speedway)

In addition to signing motor oil, Sam Hornish Jr. also signed tires and changed oil.

NASCAR driver Sam Hornish Jr. signs an autograph for a race fan at Mobil 1 Lube Express in Grand Prairie Tuesday, March 31, 2009. Race fans received a pair of tickets to the Samsung 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway with each oil change. (Photo By Tom Pennington/Getty Images for the Texas Motor Speedway)

Here’s my recap of the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway this past Sunday: It was boring.

That is all. Now it’s photo fun time:

(L-R): Elliott Sadler, Kasey Kahne, Clint Bowyer and AJ Allmendinger are introduced before the Wii Boxing tournament during Food City Race Night at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Photo Credit: Getty Images for NASCAR)

Elliott Sadler celebrates beating Kasey Kahne in a Wii boxing tournament during Food City Race Night at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Photo Credit: Getty Images for NASCAR)

Kevin and Delana Harvick celebrate winning the Scotts Turf Builder 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway, Kevin’s first NASCAR Nationwide Series victory for Kevin Harvick Inc. (Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Race fan Wessa Miller presents a penny to Dale Earnhardt Jr. prior to the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Miller gave Dale Earnhardt a lucky penny before he won the 1998 Daytona 500. (Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Kyle Busch does a burnout on the frontstretch of Bristol Motor Speedway to celebrate his Food City 500 victory. (Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

It seriously hurts my heart when I write something and then in a moment of complete insanity I lose everything I’ve just written because my computer crashes. That’s just what happened to me, so I apologize if this post sucks.

I finally have some time to write up my thoughts from last weekend’s races at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana.

Saturday was pretty uneventful, so I’m skipping that and getting into Sunday.

I hovered outside the drivers meeting room to get photos. While doing that I spotted Cody, the PR guy for Kyle Busch. I introduced myself to him not to ask him if I could interview Kyle, but to ask him if he knew that he had fans. Now you’re probably wondering how a PR guy can have his own set of fans but it’s totally possible. Anytime you see Kyle on TV walking through the garage to things like driver intros or to his appearances Cody is always by his side. Plus he’s a young guy who happens to be pretty good looking. So it’s understandable that there would be people out there, people who asked me to ask him if he has a Twitter page. Cody said that he didn’t know that he had fans and that he doesn’t have an account with Twitter (at least as of Sunday).

Later on I headed out to the grass area for driver introductions. The red carpet was rolled out once again for all of the drivers and it was a complete mob scene with fans jockeying for position along the roped off area. At that point I realized that trying to get any kind of photo would be futile so I stood back from it all.

Earlier in the day during one of my cupcake trips over to the FanZone I caught a portion of a performance by the hard rock band Rev Theory. I watched them do a couple songs and I thought they were great. While I was waiting for driver introductions to begin I spied the guys from Rev Theory walking through the grass. I told them that I’d seen them earlier and that they were really good. Introductions were made and I chatted with the drummer Dave and their personal assistant/handler guy Nice (that’s his nickname) about the virtues of Twitter. They were really nice guys and were super fun to talk to. I love band dudes.

After driver intros I played the pit road version of musical chairs. What you do is you start walking and then stop when you hear the PA announcer say “Ladies and Gentlemen, please rise…” I ended up standing behind the pit crew for the #88.

When I turned around after the flyover, which I love to death by the way, I realized I had been standing in front and to the left of Carl Edwards, his wife Kate and all of the guys from Band From TV.

My race day ritual, which I don’t think I’ve ever talked about before, is to stand behind the pits with a perfect view of the start/finish line for the race start, and
then at the end of the race with about 10 laps to go. It’s a compromise between actuallyseeing the race right in front of me and then going back to the media center to watch it through a TV screen.

So the sweetest, most adorable moment of the day was during the post-race press conference with the top-3 race finishers. Before Jeff Gordon arrived (he finished second) his wife Ingrid walked in carrying their daughter Ella. I think I’ve said it like a million times but I’ll say it again she is so freaking cute! When Jeff walked in he went over to Ella, picked her up and gave her a kiss. So cute! Then when Jeff went up to the stage and sat down Ella kept saying “da da” and pointed at him. Cute overload!

I was sad that Jeff didn’t win the race; he was so close to ending his losing streak. But I believe he will be in victory lane very soon because in that press conference he exuded passion, excitement and positivity about his race team. He said that they were head and shoulders above where they were last year. I truly hope that all of that optimism will pay off for him.

I love this photo.

Kasey Kahne’s #9 Budweiser Dodge on pit road before the start of the Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA on Sunday, February 22, 2009. (photo credit: The Fast and the Fabulous)

Brian Vickers waits to be interviewed by SPEED at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA on Sunday, February 22, 2009. (Photo credit: The Fast and the Fabulous)

Billy Ray Cyrus at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA on Saturday, February 21, 2009. (photo credit: The Fast and the Fabulous)

OK, this is Michael Waltrip. I took this photo because I saw the big purple stain on his back pocket and thought it was curious. (photo credit: The Fast and the Fabulous)

The band Rev Theory at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA on Sunday, February 22, 2009. (Photo credit: The Fast and the Fabulous)

I think this UPS Truck golf cart is the coolest thing. I wanted to drive it! (photo credit: The Fast and the Fabulous)

Gosh, where do I begin?

Let’s start with Thursday night when I arrived at LAX and picked up my rental car from Thrifty. I usually go with Hertz, but this time around Thrifty was cheaper and I was, well, trying to be thrifty. It was sort of a mistake. There was drama from the second I walked in the door. Some woman was trying to pay with quarters and one dollar bills and some other dude was trying to cheat the rental company out of money which ended with the Thrifty employee telling the dude to never come back there again.

What a glorious way to start a trip! Actually it wasn’t all bad, when it was my turn they got me out quickly, and I was able to pick the car I wanted. I ended up with a black Dodge Caliber. I’ve never driven one of those before and they said it was a compact car, but it totally doesn’t feel like it. I feel like I’m driving a boat.

Anyway, Yesterday morning I set off for the track with more butterflies in my stomach than ever. I always get nervous because I have no idea what is going to happen and I’m always seriously afraid that I’ll look like a nut job. How I would make myself look like a nut job I will never know, but I fear it nevertheless.

I arrived at the track, picked up my credentials and grabbed the press conference schedule. So I’m used to having to go from hauler to hauler for each session, but this time around the majority of the gatherings were in the drivers meeting room in the garage. So I just sat there as driver after driver came in and took a seat behind the table on the stage.

Here is a quick rundown of things that occurred to me as each driver spoke:

– Kurt Busch is kinda growing on me. I used to dislike him a lot but now, eh, not so much.

– I was dying to ask Matt Kenseth point blank whether or not his wife Katie was pregnant, but I do not have the balls to ask that kind of question. It’s none of my business, of course.

– A.J. Allmendinger is talkative, friendly and funny. He joked that he told USA Today that he might be doing steroids in an effort to get them to write an article about him.

– Kyle Busch talked about the incident at Daytona a little bit, all without actually saying Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s name. A reporter called him on it and asked why he wouldn’t say his name, Kyle replied (in a sort of annoyed tone) that he didn’t say the other guys’ (Brian Vickers) name either.

– I really liked the Kobalt Tools hat that Jimmie Johnson was wearing.

– Kasey Kahne kinda looks like the actor Robert Pattinson, who played the Edward character in the movie “Twilight.” They’re not dead ringers, but c’mon there are some similarities.

– When you ask Jeff Gordon a question he will never, ever answer it with just one word or one sentence. It’s not a bad thing, he just tends to go on more than others.

– David Ragan is my new favorite driver! Why? Read my next post!

When I wasn’t listening to drivers talk about the track and their feelings about the upcoming race I spent time in the garage Twittering and taking photos. Oh, and I monitored the Port-A-Pottie usage of a few drivers like Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth and David Ragan. These are the kinds of important updates you get when you follow me on Twitter.

Last Thursday night NASCAR drivers, a smattering of celebrities and regular people gathered at Marquee, a super hot nightclub in New York City, to celebrate NASCAR Sprint Cup Champions Week.

Thanks to the great people at Guest of a Guest there are photos from the shindig to share. I’ve got some here but you can see ALL of them over at Guest of a Guest here and here.

My only note about this soiree is that I think that NASCAR should seriously ponder moving the Champions Week festivities to different locations each year, preferably Las Vegas, San Francisco or Los Angeles as I am close to all of those areas.

The celebs in attendance ranged from Rikki Lake to that one guy who was on Ally McBeal who loved women with “wattles” to Samantha Ronson and non-lesbian-lesbian Lindsay Lohan.

Ingrid Vandebosch (Jeff Gordon’s wife)

Miss Sprint Cup Monica Palumbo (left) and Miss Sprint Cup Anne-Marie Rhodes (right)

Kyle Busch and his girlfriend Samantha Sarcinella

Jimmie and Chandra Johnson

Denny Hamlin

Brian Vickers

Greg and Nicole Biffle

I finally sat down and watched the NASCAR Sprint Cup Awards ceremony and I have come up with a list of all of the things that I want in an awards ceremony broadcast. Here’s the list in no particular order:

1.) Speeches: All I want to see are the speeches. I do not want to watch a comedy routine or a popular musical artist perform (even though I am a Matchbox 20 fan). I have Comedy Central and MTV for those things. I just want to hear and see the top ten drivers give their congrats to the Champion, recite the names of their sponsors and thank the fans. Boom, done. I have no idea what Jimmie Johnson said in his speech because my Tivo cut off right as the Sprint CEO was introducing him. Oops.

2.) Who brought who: I want to now who the single drivers & crew members brought as their dates. More specifically I wanna know who that woman was who showed up with Chad Knaus. What happened to his apparently ex-fiancee Bruna Oliveira?

3.) Who wore what: I want more than 3 second shots of the women from the neck up. I want full-length shots of their gowns. You know they put a lot of thought into what they were going to wear and it’s a shame for us to not get the chance to see them.

So that’s all I’ve got and that’s all I want. NASCAR should take note for next year.

I have to give huge props to Rick Hendrick for joking about Kyle Busch acting like he’s 18 sometimes, ah that was priceless, best moment of the night.

And to all of the drivers who thanked the fans, you’re welcome.

When they cut to a shot of Tom Cruise during the show I thought my head was going to explode. It just seemed so… random.

Actor Tom Cruise watches the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony while sitting at Jeff Gordon’s table Friday night at the Waldorf=Astoria in New York City. (Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)

I usually dig what Chandra wears but I didn’t like this pink, fluffy thing; it’s not doing anything good for her body. I’m just sayin’.

2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion Jimmie Johnson with his wife Chandra enter the Waldorf=Astoria for Friday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony in New York City. (Photo Credit: Brad Barket/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, and his wife Ingrid Vandebosch (L), hit the yellow carpet at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria on Friday in New York City. (Photo Credit: Brad Barket/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Champion crew chief Chad Knaus escorts his guest Lisa Rockelmann at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony at the Waldorf=Astoria in New York City. (Photo Credit: Brad Barket/Getty Images for NASCAR)

(Left to right) Rob Thomas, Paul Doucette, Brian Yaleand and Kyle Cook of the rock band Matchbox Twenty arrive at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Ceremony at the Waldorf=Astoria on in New York City. (Photo Credit: Brad Barket/Getty Images for NASCAR)