Trouble in Turn 4 at Phoenix International Raceway

NASCAR was at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona which had lots of action. And finally, a weekend in town! Besides my hellish walk to and from the roof, my furthest traveling was a drive to Chilis with Mark!

Friday was a long, busy day that started with driver shots in the garage.

Jeff Burton strikes a pose.

Denny Hamlin laughs as he gears up.

I've slowly been trying to gain the courage to walk up to the drivers once they are in their cars to take some shots.

Then I went out to turn 2 to get a few slow shutter speed shots during practice.

Later in the day for qualifying, I was at the end of the track where drivers pull up if they are the top 3 on the pole. It makes for great shots and lots of action as they knock each other out. When they climb out of the cars you have a few moments to nail your shot before the TV crews swarm them. Here's an example.

The light was beautiful and the sky was dotted with great clouds...I call them Simpson clouds. While most of the photographers where parallel with the cars and got the typical flat shot, I decided to angle myself in front of the cars so that when they pulled up I could make the most of the sky.

A crowd favorite, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Kasey Kahne. I love and hate how his face is framed here. I love the notebook but I hate the elbow. What can I do?

And finally the man of the chase, Jimmie Johnson.

Edit, transmit and off to the roof for the truck race.

Pit stops.

James Buescher crashes in turn 4.

Then throws sparks as he heads to the garage.

Camping World Truck Series driver Kevin Harvick (left) celebrates winning the race while teammate Ron Hornaday celebrates the 2009 series championship following the Lucas Oil 150

Saturday was another beautiful day, only this time, the sky promised dark clouds and rain.

I must admit, being a cute girl definitely helps in a male dominated sport. As Jeff Gordon's crew was putting up a tarp in front of their garage space, they spot me with my camera trying to get photos of Mark Martin lacing up his shoes. So they invite me into the garage behind the tarp.

Carl Edwards gets a huge grin on his face as a friend congratulates him about his new baby him and his wife are expecting.

Off to practice...

Or so they thought...Mark and I happened to run into each other as the cars were pulling out. Instead of running to the media room to transmit, we waited for NASCAR to turn the drivers back around because of the rain. So now we had even more time in the garage with the drivers.

I shot Tony from a distance in fear that he would throw me around a bit...I was reassured he wouldn't but one of Kurt Busch's guys enjoyed a laughed with me.

Again, I'm still scared to shoot the drivers in their cars, but I am slowly making progress as I inch my way up.

Once on the roof, there was quite a bit of action.

Kyle Busch (left) and Clint Bowyer spin early in the race.

Eric McClure (24), Paul Menard (98), Jason Bowles (61), and Jeremy Clements (0) crash.

Denny Hamlin (20) spins after contact with Brad Keselowski (88)

As they were cleaning the track, I started to walk around and realized how many people were camping behind the track. This photo doesn't it do it justice because I was shooting for the prettier shot which included the mountains.

Carl Edwards won the Able Body Labor 200.

I was pumped when he won, because Mark told me how he'll do a shot with all the photographers in victory lane. I think he's considering a hobby change...

Shooting some feature shots on Sunday worked out great for me as I walked out of the media room to find Jeff Gordon going through inspection with Jimmie Johnson behind him.

Once I made my way to the roof after listening to every other person bark out, "Now that's a camera!" I took some general views of the track with the fly over.

The race begins!

Several car pass the start finish line in another lap.

The thing I dislike the most about shooting from the roof is if there is not a lot of action, you can get bored very quickly.

The only place to physically shoot on the roof at PIR is behind a fence, and those spots are limited. I was standing in the corner of the grandstands that are up there. Obviously being the more popular race, all the Cup fans didn't like all the photographers shooting up there with them. 100 laps in or so we all got kicked out and moved to a different area. I was so frustrated because where they moved us, no longer had a straight view of the front stretch.

NASCAR called a caution for debris on the track.