I've since been told that I was spoiled and shouldn't get use to this kind of experience at a race - we got a Driver / Owner pass, so we got to park right next to the bus, but I was able to see what a nightmare that can be!  We we were in the pits for the whole race listening to Ryan on the radio with his spotter (his dad) and his crew chief, which made the race that much more interesting to me, and being that close to a pit stop and watching it up close is pretty cool too!  When he got that final push from Kurt and won, we got to go to Victory Lane with him, which was quite an experience!  A couple of you saw me on TV, which was kinda cool...

While Ryan was grilling steaks the night before the race, I saw a boxer outside of a coach near Ryan's, so I went and played with him for a while... he was so sweet!  A couple of guys walked out of the coach, so I asked them if the dog was theirs, hoping they didn't mind!  They replied, "No, that's Jr.'s dog..." I then realized he was wearing a collar with 88 and Dale Earnhart Jr. printed all around it... oops...

While heading back to the coach after Victory Lane and a million pictures, we were stopped a million times by folks that knew were there with Newman.  One of the couples that stopped us outside of their coach was Richard Petty and his wife Lynda, and then Kyle also came out.  It was pretty amazing talking to "the King", and it was pretty hysterical when he congratulated Ryan - he said "Good job man... you've only got 6 more to catch up with me!"

Ryan is pretty superstitious, and since this was the first race I had ever been to - and he won, Krissie asked me if I was available to come to races for the next 38 weeks... ;)

We were still hanging out in the coach eating sandwiches when Tony Stewart came by to congratulate Ryan on his win, and when the PR folks came by to give them their schedule for their media tour.  One of their first stops was the Dave Letterman show, which was on tonight!  It was pretty cool to watch!  They will be on Regis and Kelly tomorrow, and on Jimmy Kimmel tomorrow night.

We also got to attend the Driver's Meeting, which was quite an experience.  There was quite a bit of military brass, CEOs of major corporations, many Nascar legends, Trisha Yearwood, Nick Lachey, Chubby Checker, Kool and the Gang, Michael McDonald, and some other folks.  I got to meet Mark Martin there, who used to be my driver back in the day when I actually had time to follow Nascar!

I left with a signed hot pass, confetti from Victory Lane, a signed program, a signed winner's hat, lug nuts from the car that won the Daytona 500, and a LIFETIME of memories!