The NASCAR Sprint Cup series made their first of two stops at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware. The buzz over the weekend was that Brian Vickers, driver of the Red Bull Toyota was not in Dover due to being in a Washington DC hospital because of blood clots in both lungs and left leg. Casey Mears was tagged as the relief driver for the Red Bull Toyota. Upon writing this blog, Brian Vickers along with Red Bull general manager Jay Frye held a press conference at Charlotte Motor Speedway stating that Vickers would miss the rest of the season due to being on blood thinners.
Upon arriving at the race track on Sunday, I attended a brief photograph's meeting with both NASCAR and track personnel to tell us what was and wasn't allowed before, during and following the race.
I knew coming into the race, I wanted to set up a remote camera. I thought of putting it at the end of pit road facing towards the start/finish line, but scratched that idea because when renovations were done to the racetrack two years ago, the speedway installed a new and high pit road wall, so I felt this would have blocked some of my images. I then decided to put the remote camera on the outside of the turn one wall. This area is off limits to fans, so I didn't have to worry about the camera being stolen, but I still keep my eye on it throughout the race.
Below, the remote camera is all set up and ready for race action.
Below, replacement driver Casey Mears prior to driver introductions. I was hoping for a Red Bull drivers suit, but that didn't happen.
Below, four time Sprint Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson prior to driver introductions. I wanted to keep my eye on Johnson due to him sweeping both Dover races last season, and this was the second time in his short career he would be shooting for the three-peat at Dover.
I then made my way to the turn one media building for the start of the race.
It was ironic that Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch were paired together during a parade lap around the speedway prior to the race. These two would battle each other for the lead throughout the entire race.
Below, drivers and crew members line up during the singing of the national anthem.
Below, four F-16 fighter jets perform a flyover.
Martin Truex Jr. leads the field to the green flag to start the Autism Speaks 400. As the race started, I shot with my camera with my pocket wizard attached that fired my remote camera below. Below are the same shots, but from different perspectives:
Hand-held camera
Remote Camera
Kasey Kahne would take his Budweiser Ford Fusion to the lead early in the race.
Though it didn't take long for defending race winner Jimmie Johnson to take the lead.
Sam Hornish Jr.'s Mobil 1 Dodge would blow a tire and hit the wall between turns one and two.
With the first caution of the day for debris from Sam Hornish Jr.'s car, the leaders hit pit road for service.
Below, Jimmie Johnson (48) and Kyle Busch (18) battle for the lead as AJ Allmendinger (43) closes in.
Below, Jamie McMurray (1) leads a pack of cars into turn one.
Below, Kurt Busch (2) drives low through turns one and two......
....and Elliott Sadler (19) drives high through turns one and two.
Below, David Ragan (6) lets off the accelerator into turn one as Jeff Gordon (24) follows.
As I was scanning through the teams two-way radios before green flag pit stops, I heard Kasey Kahne talking with his crew chief Kenny Francis about having a shifter problem. Once Kahne made his stop, I noticed that he needed help from his crew members to get going. This cost him a lot of time on pit road. Below, Kasey Kahne's team members push the car on pit road as Clint Bowyer (33) drives by.
A few laps later, the caution flag would come out for debris, trapping Kahne a few laps down.
Below, Jimmie Johnson (48) leads the field back to the green flag.
Then Kyle Busch (18) takes the lead from Jimmie Johnson (48).
At this point, the action started to get a bit boring, so I thought I'd get some other shots I needed.
Since Dupont is up the road a bit in Wilmington, Delaware, I thought I'd get some shots of Jeff Gordon leading some cars in his Dupont Chevrolet Impala.
Oh, and we can't forget Kevin Harvick, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship points leader.
Junior nation didn't have a good reason to cheer on their driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. on this day. Junior came over his radio to his crew chief Lance McGrew saying he felt like the rear axle was busted, so instead of asking McGrew what to do, he brought the car to pit road instantly.
I wanted to get something different instead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. sitting on pit road with the hood up, so I zoomed out so I could capture the leader and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson (48) as he drove by putting Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88) more laps down. This I feel just adds to the Johnson domination compared to Earnhardt's mediocre results with Hendrick Motorsports.
After getting more stock images, I decided to pan as the cars drove into turn one at full speed.
Below, are a few examples of what I was trying to achieve.
This pretty much wrapped up what I needed from the turn one roof. Though before leaving, I fired off a shot of the half capacity filled grandstands between turns one and two. A year ago, these seats were filled, but not this year. Again, shows how the decline in the economy has hurt race fans too!
I then moved my way over to the turn two pedestrian bridge that crosses over the racetrack. I like this area due to the nice tight isolated shots I can achieve along with the nice light too.
Below, are a few examples.
Kyle Busch (18)
Tony Stewart (14)
"Concrete" Carl Edwards (99)
Kurt Busch (2) leads Martin Truex Jr. (1) and AJ Allmendiger (43)
Fill-in driver Casey Mears (83) leads Ryan Newman (39)
I then moved to the other side of the bridge for more action. Another caution for debris brought the field together and again, anpther round of pit stops. Though Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch elected not to pit, placing them first and second ahead of the leaders who pitted for tires and fuel. Jimmie Johnson would line up fourth for the restart, but wasted little time going after Matt Kenseth on the restart.
Below, Jimmie Johnson (48) splits the Busch brothers in turn two.
Due to older tries, Kurt Busch started sliding back into the clutches of those who elected on the last pit stop to come in and pt on four tires. Below, Clint Bowyer (33) slides past Kurt Busch (2) to pick up a position.
I then heard over the radio that Kurt Busch (2) had a tire go down and hit the turn four wall. I right away started firing the remote camera, but it wasn't until later that I realized I was out of range because I had nothing on the remote camera. Another reason why when setting up a remote camera you don't rely heavily on it because sometimes it doesn't fire, like in this situation.
Below, Kurt Busch (2) drives through turn two with damage to the right front fender.
After the restart, Jimmie Johnson went to work on leader Matt Kenseth.
Below, Jimmie Johnson (48) passes leader Matt Kenseth (17) on the outside to recapture the lead.
After shooting a few more stock photos from this location, I headed back to the front straightaway to prepare for the last round of pit stops and the end of the race.
Below, Kurt Busch (2) drives his injured Miller Lite Dodge into turn one.
In honor of the King Richard Petty's induction into the brand new NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, AJ Allmendinger drove a retro paint scheme paying tribute to The King.
Below, Jimmie Johnson (48) and Kyle Busch battle for the lead on the front straightaway.
After watching Johnson and Busch swap the lead back in forth what seemed to be every other lap, I looked around for some way to be more creative. I was standing just in front of Jimmie Johnson's pit, so I decided to incorporate his pit sign in the photo as he lead Kyle Busch down the front straightaway.
Below, Jimmie Johnson (48) and Kyle Busch (18) race off pit road. While they raced side-by-side down pit road, unfortunately Jimmie Johnson was hit with a penalty for exiting pit road too fast. With the penalty, it basically eliminated his chance for the three-peat at Dover and handed the race over to Kyle Busch.
Below, Jimmie Johnson serves his pass through penalty.
No one was able to mount a challenge to leader Kyle Busch as he easily won the Autism Speaks 400, his 2nd victory of 2010 and 18th career win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Here are different perspectives of the celebratory burnout.
Remote Camera:
Hand-held Camera
Below, Kyle Busch celebrates in victory lane with tons of confetti.
After running back to the media room to move a few photos, it was back to victory lane to get a few photos of Kyle Busch posing with the Monster trophy.
That wraps up NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing from the Monster Mile in Dover, Delaware. Next up.....Pocono Raceway.
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As a photographer and an avid NASCAR fan, I am absolutely in love with the tilted shot of the driver and crews during the National Anthem. Great job and great angle!!!
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