Another long weekend at Fonana NASCAR

Fontana NASCAR Blog - Images by Jennifer Stewart

It has been some time since I have last updated my blog, my apologies. I've been so busy lately living the life! Fontana NASCAR is where I left off and boy was that an eventful trip!

During Sprint Cup practice, I made my way to an elevated position where the cars would be driving right underneath me. It makes for a cool shot of the cars you do not see too often.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Jeff Burton.

I was given the opportunity to work with an editor from Las Vegas who was doing a few stories on a couple of different drivers. One, in particular, happens to be one of my favorite drivers, Tony Stewart.

As we were outside his trailer, I saw Jimmie Johnson walk by so I quickly darted over to catch a few shots of him.

Back outside the trailer a fan bumped into me while I about to switch lenses and a 24-70 went flying out of my hand and landed on the front of the lens. I was speechless. All I could think was F*CK!! Not only was this going to be my primary lens for this shoot, but it was borrowed from Richard Quattrocchi. Sure as crap the lens looked shattered.

Once in the trailer I was fighting back the tears. I was trying to take the lens filter off to see what the damage was, but the filters was so bent and shattered I could not twist it off. Tony looks over at me and asked what was wrong, all I could do was show him what happened. He grabbed the lens from me and went to work.

Here's a detailed view of the front of the lens.

As he was working on the lens, one of his crew members asked if Tony was the one who broke my lens, hahaha, not this time!

After a good 10 minutes, he was able to remove the filter and thankfully the actual glass was unharmed. Only costed me a new filter. Thanks Tony! :)

I was very please with how the shots turned out. Tony is very fun and animated guy.

Limited on so many head shot options, I was forced to think outside the box.

Once we were finished, I had to get a photo with him. FYI fellow photogs ::MARK:: always remember to take off your photo vest, it makes a huge difference and you'll be glad you did.

Saturday morning I got experience the much anticipated Danica Mania! She is one tough cookie to get a photo of. She's always swarmed by hundreds of photographers or her entourage is yelling at us to keep away. But I was able to pop off a few shots as I dodged and weaved my little self through the crowds.

NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Danica Patrick during qualifying.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Juan Pablo Montoya was hanging out during practice, so I crawled right up to him to pop a few shots off.

Here I caught another photographers flash which lit up NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Mark Martin face real nicely.

Shot from pit road, NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Kyle Busch celebrates after winning the Stater Brothers 300.

Kyle was all smiles at Victory Lane.

Sunday was another long day at the track. I started bright and early with my editor on a shoot with Kyle Busch. While I did not know what to expect from Kyle, I quickly learned what a down to earth guy he was.

While we were on his golf cart, Kyle saw a group of fans who were sporting his gear. He told his driver to stop over at their camp so he could make a surprise appearance then signed some autographs.

Prior to the Cup race I went searching for some feature shots. It was a bit rainy all morning, so I camped out at a small puddle for a few waiting for a car to come by.