Sonoma Qual & Practice Garage Report

[Ok, this blog might not be as brilliant "as usual" since I have three famous bloggers watching me write this over my shoulder...talk about pressure! TEZ says maybe this blog will more brilliant than before and is wrapped up in his boxing Kangaroo flag...JON464 thought he found gas mileage notes on the table next to us at dinner and is polishing his Harvick Crocs and RA6AN is too busy drooling over an old ESPN magazine cover to pay any attention to us....]

Ah, Sonoma, "I feel the need, the need for speed"..."Pop quiz, hotshot. There's a bomb on a bus"...whoops too many movie quotes but seriously pop quiz...what is wrong with this picture?

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Notice anything missing??  Like a big blue hauler in between the #11 and #17 haulers?   Unfortunately, the race weekend got off to a rough start for the Blue Deuce.  Our hauler apparently broke the "turbo bearing" in the engine in the Nevada desert and had to be towed (can you imagine the size of the tow truck!?!?) to Vegas. For a short time there was a real scare that the #2 car(s) would not make it to the track.   Luckily Stump and Cindy are crack mechanics and fixed it up but the delay put them pulling into the garage at 2 AM Friday.   Of course, all the other haulers were already lined up so we got to pull in at the very, VERY end of the line-past all the start and parkers and right next to JJ Yeley.   

The worst part of it all is that they had to unload the hauler at 2 AM pretty much by themselves so when the crew got to the garage at 7AM the car was actually in the garage ready to start the inspection process.   Oh and a thing about the garage...NASCAR didn't change our garage stall so our car and all of our equipment are in garage stall 5, and to repeat, hauler spot 43.  Not only has the Brew Crew lost significant weight running back and forth already this weekend but Kurt fans are getting unprecedented access to autographs from him as he makes the long, long trek.  

I was privy to a rare sight in the garage...it is not often you see drivers getting make up!  What a cool job eh?

I cannot say quite yet what exactly this Goodyear commercial featuring Sam, Kurt, as well as Harvick, Bowyer and Burton is about but it sure was fun watching them play TV star for a little bit.   They both did a great job with their lines but had to do them over and over for the perfect cut and splice.

The "product" will be announced by Goodyear at the Daytona race in July but you can say you heard a rumor about a new product here first...and once it is announced I'll post the rest of the pictures I do have.   I will say it is a very cool idea.    While we will have to wait a bit longer - one thing that all of the drivers could not wait to do was to get rid of that makeup!

Right after filming the commercial Kurt was back in front of the camera (maybe he should have left his make up on?) for Speed Vision.   They were filming messages from the drivers to their fathers and/or all the fathers to be played on the JumboTron on Sunday.

 Keeping up with the theme of rare garage experiences - not often you get to see a Swede...

Nor is it very common to have your sponsor incorporate their logo into your name...now that is brand loyalty!

Notice the belt...Ummmm, I'm lovin' it!

Fun moment on pit road right before Kurt went out to qualify - some good ole fashioned trash-talking between old teammates...

Kurt laid down a lightening fast lap in qualifying picking up nearly a second over practice and kept himself in front of the media.  Here he is being interviewed by Dodge PR and in the background you can see Kurt's PR guy keeping his eyes on the rest of the qualifiers on his Sprint Fan View.  Oh and our hauler, yeah so far down its still not in the picture!

Saturday was a quick but eventful day.  It started with Luke - our favorite shock specialist now on the #56 car - getting Marcos Ambrose to sign Tez's boxing Kangaroo flag for him.  Apparently, Marcos wrapped himself up in it and said how much he wanted to go visit home...wish I was there with a camera but greatly appreciate Luke for making Tez practically pee his pants!

The only wreck in practice today was unfortunately my beloved Sammy.   He smashed the car up real good and all three Penske teams pulled together to get the back up out and the wrecked car safe enough to haul back home. 

Being a good teammate was definitely the theme of the day - as you all know Brad Keslowski was in Wisconsin racing the NW right about the time practice was starting at Sonoma.    Hmmm, yet the 12 car was mysteriously out on the track...

BK can give a hearty thanks to KB for shaking down his car in both practice and Happy Hour and better hope the Blue Deuce is strong since we missed out on half of our practice time as KB ran between the cars....literally!

As it is already 10:45pm and I have a 6 am wake up call, I will leave you with one parting shot of the day...the mastermind at work on top of yes, yes a porta potty....

More to come....