Kid's VIP Experience

For Ben's birthday he got pit passes for Talladega.  We had already made plans for the entire family to attend the Xfinity race and to camp at Oak Mountain State Park for the weekend.  A couple of weeks before the race I got an e-mail about a Kids VIP Experience for kids under 12 that had upgraded pit passes.  Ben only had regular pit passes but asked to pay for the upgrade himself so that he could do the VIP Experience.  

There were several things kids could do but they could only choose one and it was first come first serve.  The options were 

• Reserved Kids VIP area at the Drivers Meeting red carpet
• VIP hot laps in Grand Marshal car
• Reserved Kids VIP area at Driver Introductions
• Guided tour of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Garage
• Photo opportunity in Gatorade Victory Lane before the GEICO 500

Some of the options were definitely better than others so John and Ben left the campsite at 7 a.m. to get there as early as possible (the tent opened at 8 a.m.).  They weren't sure what they wanted to do so John asked what would get Ben closest to the drivers and he was given one of about 15 spots in the reserved kids area at the Drivers Meeting red carpet.  We thought this would just be watching the drivers pass by on their way to the meeting.  It turned out to be much better.  About 20 drivers stopped and signed autographs.  Kyle Busch was not in the group but Ben was very excited about the drivers that he did get to meet.

 Standing by Bill Elliott's car that recorded the fastest lap in NASCAR at Talladega in 1987.

In Kyle's pit box.

 Dale Jr.'s pit box.  They said it was full of people.

 

 Kevin Harvick

 Erik Jones

 Matt Kenseth

 Jeffery Earnhardt (Dale Jr.'s nephew)

 Daniel Suarez

 David Ragan

 A. J. Allmendinger

 Landon Cassill

 Ricky Stenhouse Jr (who's from Olive Branch and won the race)

 Clint Bowyer

 Denny Hamlin

 Chase Elliott

 Trevor Bayne

Obviously Danica Patrick

 Ryan Newman

 Ty Dillon.  There were other drivers that signed Ben's book that John did not get pictures of including Jimmie Johnson.

 Joe Gibbs (who Ben asked to sign his hat).  Joe Gibbs owns Kyle's car and several others.  He is also a Super Bowl winning football coach.

 Ben's autographed hat.  He plans to retire it.

 They also attended driver introductions.  This is Kyle being introduced.  The man in front of them booed Kyle.

 Denny and Joey Logano riding around the track.

 They stayed on Pit Road too long and had to ride out on a tram through a tunnel located under turn 4.  They got to their seats just as the race was starting.

 The race starting.

 Denny leading.  He won the second stage.

Kyle and Denny on the front row.  Kyle finished third after a last lap pass.