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NASCAR Express 2013 Part 3



by Chris Guenzler



Car 15 was driven by Clint Boyer.





Car 1 was driven by Jamie McMurray.





Car 42 was driven by Juan Montoya and Car 20 was driven by Matt Kenseth.





Car 99 was driven by Carl Edwards.





Car 29 was driven by Kevin Harvick.





Car 11 was driven by Denny Hamlin.





Car 52 was driven by Paulie Harraka.





Car 2 was driven by Brad Kesselowski.





Car 31 was driven by Jeff Burton and Car 43 was driven by Aric Almirola.





Car 16 was driven by Greg Biffle.





Car 48 was driven by Jimmie Johnson.





Car 56 was driven by Martin Truex Jr.





Car 5 was driven by Kasey Kahne.





Car 18 was driven by Kyle Busch.





Car 88 was driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr.





Car 14 was driven by Tony Stewart.





Car 27 was driven by Paul Menard.





Car 13 was driven by Casey Mears.





Car 55 was driven by Brian Vickers.





Car 22 was driven by Joey Logano.





Car 39 was driven by Ryan Newman.





Car 32 was driven by Terry Labonte.





Car 93 was driven by Travis Kvapil.





Car 38 was driven by David Gilliland.





Car 83 was driven by David Reutimann.





Car 34 was driven by David Ragan.





Car 17 was driven by Ricky Stenhouse Jr.





Car 7 was driven by Robby Gordon.





Car 35 was driven by Josh Wise.





Car 30 was driven by David Stremme.





Car 10 was driven by Danica Patrick.





Car 24 was driven by Jeff Gordon.





Car 19 was driven by Mike Bliss.





Car 36 was driven by Victor Gonzalez Jr.





I hoped the weather would not delay the race at all.





The pack coming down the back straight away.







The green flag was out, so the racing can begin again.





Another wreck slowed the race again so we had six seconds of green flag running.





Car 38, driven by David Gilliland, was the first to go by our next yellow flag.





The crews were out at the wreck site.





Car 9, driven by Marcos Ambrose came into pit road while Car 2, driven by Brad Keselowski, and Car 43 driven by Aric Almirola, stayed out on the track.





Car 1, driven by Jamie McMurray, came into pit road while Car 5, driven by Kasey Kahne, stayed on the race track.





Car 20, driven by Matt Kenseth came into pit road while Car 16, driven by Greg Biffle, and Car 55, driven by Brian Vickers stayed out on the race track.





Car 29, driven by Kevin Harvick came into pit road and Car 88, driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr., stayed out on the track.





Car 42, driven by Juan Montoya, had a pit stop while Car 93, driven by Travis Kvapil, and Car 22, driven by Joey Logano, stayed out on the track.





Car 42 left the pit stop while Car 24, driven by Jeff Gordon, was rolling down pit row.





The two trucks removed the latest accident car from the track, which was Car 19, driven by Mike Bliss.







Another green flag returned us to racing.





The race resumed.





Car 78, driven by Kurt Busch, is rolling down pit row.





Car 10, driven by Danica Patrick, is rolling down the track.





Our friend was back in the pit row and his engine was now exposed to the air.





Car 10 is rolling down pit road.







The next green flag of the race.





Another view of Car 10 rolling down pit road. We had another yellow flag for another spin-out and grass fire.







The next restart with the green flag.





Another accident right in front of the main grandstand.





Later they had a green flag and it was back to racing.





Car 22, driven by Joey Logano, on Lap 73 of this race.





Car 88 and Car 24 on Lap 73.





Car 20 and Car 5 on Lap 73.





Car 55 on Lap 73.





Car 48 and Car 32 came racing by the main grandstand.





Car 93 and Car 27 passed at great speed.





Cars 15, 55 and 13 accelerated by the grandstand on Lap 74.





It was then cars' 29, 18 and 9 turn.





Cars 39 and 31 next passed the grandstand.





They were followed by Cars 83, 38 and 30.





Then cars 33, 11, 34, 43 and 10 came racing by before the yellow flag was flown yet again.





Car 18 is on pit row.







The green flag came out and racing began yet again.





Car 1 was at the back of the racing pack.







The sky turned darker as the racers come out of the "S" curves on this unique track.





Car 56, driven by Martin Truex Jr., is leading the race on Lap 91.





Car 2, driven by Brad Keselowski, is in second place on Lap 91. 19 laps in the race to go.





Car 56, driven by Martin Truex Jr., is still leading the race, this time on Lap 99.





He continued the lead Lap 100.





Car 52, driven by Paulie Harraka, is on Lap 101.





Car 56 now had a five-second lead as he went for the checkered flag.





Car 56 gets the white flag; one more lap to go.





Car 56, driven by Martin Truex Jr., gets the checkered flag, wins the race and snapped a 218-race winless streak today at the Sonoma Raceway.





Danica Patrick finished the race. Afterwards, our directions were to walk along the track to the Sonoma Raceway emblems on the inside of Turn 11.





We all met there and we were led back to the train.

NASCAR Express 2013 Amtrak 988 East

I boarded the train and relaxed, talking with several other guests and train crew. The trip had been a major success and should be repeated in the future.





We came back into Suisan-Fairfield, but had to wait for the switch to be thrown to allow us to reach the Union Pacific mainline.





The former Southern Pacific passenger car at Suisan-Fairfield. After a double passenger stop there, we went back to Davis and then onto Sacramento, arriving there at 7:05 PM. Special thanks to Amtrak, Union Pacific, California Northern and the Northwestern Pacific Railroads for today's trip over their railroad, and to all the Sonoma Raceway volunteers who made this trip possible. I returned to the Vagabond Inn and labelled the pictures for this story before calling it a night.

On the way home 6/24/2013

I arose early and worked on the story before checking out and walking back over to the Amtrak station and the long walk to San Joaquin 702 for Bakersfield, where I would work on the story as long as I could. I finished this story so far just north of Wasco then relaxed the rest of the way to Bakersfield. I boarded the Thruway Bus for LAUPT then took Metrolink 684, which arrived late, home to Santa Ana, ending an excellent trip aboard the very first NASCAR Express. I was home for just 30 minutes before leaving for the monthly Train Travel Meetup Group get-together in Fullerton this evening.

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