May 16, 2009 Sprint All-Star Race

by Sam Sharpe on May.21, 2009, under Motorsports

Tony Stewart wins the All-Star Race!

I was really glad to see this! Tony has worked hard to achieve this Victory. Now being a Team Owner, it has to been the sweetest victory of all. I really wanted to be elevated more for this shot, but the way things turned out for me, I had to shoot it from the ground. For the All-Star Race, we don’t get to use Victory Lane. Sprint holds Victory Lane out on the Front Stretch of the Speedway, and we all have to run out to a tracktor trailer flatbed stage to get in position. I did not run streight to the trailer……I was wanting to get a shot of the burn out if Tony did one. He did do one, but the security guards would not let me get to where I needed to be to shoot it. Such as life sometimes. So I had to settle for shooting this from the ground. I think that it turned out Ok.

This next shot turned out real well from the ground. I like looking up at Tony………makes it seem larger and more dramatic than what it probably really was.

Tony Stewart wins the All-Star Race

The All-Star Race can be all about the pitstops, I really wanted to capture something different from what I normally get. This is somewhat risky at a race like the All-Star because the race occurs so fast. if you screw it up……well, you are screwed. And I have a real tallant for screwing things up. but here are some things that I came up with:

#24 Car in for a pit stop

#48 Car Pit Stop

#39 Car comes in for a Pit Stop

The shot of Kyle Busch and the #18 Car was pretty nice. I really liked it because of the way the car was angled towards me in the pit stall:

#18 Car comes in for Pit Stop

The only real crash I got from the whole night was of Gordon and the #24 Car. It really was nothing spectacular, but from an editorial point of view it was important. Jeff Gordon is always a “player” when ever he is on the track, and anytime he crashes, it is big: