Posted by John Schwarb
ROSSBURG, Ohio -- Leftovers from Wednesday night at Eldora Speedway's fourth annual Prelude to the Dream:
• Part of the allure of the event is how non-NASCAR it is, even though it's full of NASCAR greats. The Cup environment is controlled down to the very last detail, especially when it comes to sponsorships. Handlers and sponsor reps are omnipresent, making sure their drivers never come within a mile of contact with something outside their sphere of products.
So it was priceless to see Clint Bowyer's face after the feature, handed a Coors Light by a crewman in honor of a solid night's work. "Ahh, I can't drink that," the Jack Daniel's driver said as he quickly got it out of his hands.
Also overheard on a race organizer's walkie-talkie was a momentary crisis with Kasey Kahne's car. It had a Miller Lite decal on it. Big no-no for a Bud man. You'd never see that on the Cup circuit.
• Not to be overlooked in second place in the feature behind host and champion Tony Stewart was Robby Gordon, a first-time Eldora visitor with plenty of experience in off-road trucks but none in dirt late model oval racing. He adapted in no time, guided by car owner Scott Bloomquist, a four-time Dream winner -- the 100-lap late model race this weekend that the Prelude name plays off.
"For me, I just had to drive it. What was cool was I had Scott down there giving me signals and he said, 'Down there, go high, and down here, come inside,'" Gordon said. "I saw what he was telling me to do, so that was nice to be able to do that. Normally we have spotter radios and stuff like that, which we don't have for this."
• The 25-man field could have been 26, but Indianapolis 500 winner Scott Dixon turned down the invitation Stewart reserved for the 500 winner, citing continued media obligations plus the IndyCar Series' race at Texas, where practice began Thursday.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway spokesman Ron Green said if Stewart keeps making the invitation, the 500 winner's schedule could be altered to make sure he or she gets there.
