This past weekend we were invited to watch the Nascar Truck-Series from the FedEx suite for the first race of the season. I am no stranger to Daytona International Speedway, having been there for many Rolex24’s as well as SCCA races and various other events however this was the first time I have seen the action from the famous “Super-Stretch”.

After arriving to the suite and putting our cameras and jackets down we made our way to the buffet. They had a great selection of various goodies including stuffed chicken, steak in a wine sauce, salad…and even fried mac-n-cheese. It was a good meal and a nice way to start off the evening. Beer and soda were graciously provided by our hosts and the suite was decorated with various images of the FedEx fleet of cars, trucks and planes as well as the race cars they sponsor.

We watched the first 30 or so laps of the race from the suite before moving down to the grand stands so we could get right next to the fences. Around the half-way point of the race we decided to take the shuttle over to the infield and watch from the garages (something I would latter regret). The shuttle that took us from the back stretch to the infield was a pretty long ride as you have to go half-way around the track, change busses and then go infield thru the turn 1 tunnel. It was actually pretty neat to take that route as the shuttle drives on part of the road course that I just saw the Daytona prototypes and GT cars of the Grand-Am series running less than a month before.

Once we got to the Fan-Zone we made our way to the roof top of the garage’s to see the action. You get a good view of the cars coming off turn 4 onto the front stretch as well as a decent view of the pits. The moment I started to regret coming over to the fan zone was when one of the trucks spun out coming off turn 2 and smashed into the wall RIGHT where we were standing just a few minutes before. It’s not that I want to see anyone get hurt, but I will admit that I enjoy seeing some the pile-ups in Nascar.

The race was over shortly after that and the night came to a close. It was great to get to hang out in a suite again and watch the race. The last time I was at the track in a suite was for the 2006 International Race of Champions (IROC). Watching from a suite is a totally different animal than being on the infield, or even in the grandstands. You can still hear the wail of the cars as the go by (especially in the tight packs that the stock cars run in) but it is fairly subdued. Also, having multiple TVs to view all the camera feeds that you would see at home is nice and you never have to worry about the weather.

I’d like to thank FedEx for the tickets and the hospitality (and the free beer!).

-Geoff