Sorry about the hiatus. That was unintentional. Things got a little busy around here & I rarely post on the weekends, but I’m back now so yay!

This weekend my family took a trip to Bristol, Tennessee for the NASCAR races at Bristol Motor Speedway. This was our fourth year going, I think. We typically drive down on Saturday morning, watch the races on Saturday afternoon & Sunday, then drive home Sunday night. (It’s a 5 or 6 hour drive, plus some stops for food/leg stretching.)

This year my dad invited my grandparents to join us so my mom booked a room for Sunday night so the schedule wouldn’t be as rigorous. My grandparents didn’t end up going, but since the race was delayed by rain on Sunday until 7pm, it was awesome that we got to stay and watch. Last year when it was delayed by rain we had to leave since we all worked on Monday morning.

This year my parents, my brother, K, and friends of my parents’ piled into my dad’s excursion and made the trek. (My brother’s girlfriend was planning on coming, but she came down with a cold last week.)

. . .

We had beautiful weather on Saturday, but the bigger race is on Sunday and that’s when the big rain clouds were due to move in.

(We sat in the sun for +5 hours on Saturday and I have 0% sunburn (or tan) to show for it because I’m terrified of getting skin cancer. I don’t tan well but I fry like an egg, so I just 50 spf myself and call it a day!)

So Sunday called for 100% rain and I prayed and prayed that God would give us a window of dryness- even just 2 or 3 hours to get half the race in. If they make it halfway it counts and if not they reschedule the whole thing.

Around 2pm they started the rain and got in 22 laps but the clouds opened up and the red flag was thrown for moisture on the track.

When moisture stops a race NASCAR will release statements saying when they hope to resume racing. We were convinced they’d have to call it and reschedule it for tomorrow when the weather was supposed to be more favorable. Despite our doubt, we hung around the rainy track all day, decked out in ponchos, rain pants, hats, and rain jackets. Finally, around 4pm, NASCAR made the announcement that they hoped to resume around 6:30pm.

Around 6 they started drying the track and they were back to racing around 7. I must admit, it was a d*mn good race- it was worth waiting around for!

Bristol hosts a night race in August and a day race in Spring, but this year we got to see a night race. Those are the best. My boy Kasey Kahne didn’t win this year, but all the Hendrick boys had a pretty great run. Matt Kenseth won the race after a few cautions, another red flag for rain, and a green-white-checker finish.

We started for home on Monday morning and obviously had NASCAR radio playing the whole way. One of the hosts was talking about how the race conflicted with a memorial service for his brother and he was worried he’d miss the entire race. They left for the service after the first rain caution/red flag that afternoon and as they climbed into the car around 6:30pm to return home he turned on the radio and heard them say they cars were ready to start running again. Obviously he was relieve and said a little thank you to his brother up above.

This story made me smile since I’d been asking God for the exact opposite thing. Turns out I got to see the race and the radio host didn’t miss a second. I’d say that guy upstairs knows what He’s doing.

Great weekend, great people, great racing, and a grateful fan 🙂

-Louise