I was at the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Race at Watkins Glen on Sunday to cheer on the Kodak No.12 car and driver Ryan Newman. With all the action there were lots of photo opportunies. Considering the cars run at 180+ miles an hour, you gotta be quick though... or look for other photo ops to help tell the story.

Here I captured a day in the life of a NASCAR race tire. 

You sit all morning lined up... until your car is ready for you. You are attached in a blink of an eye and off you go.

After a number of laps you are worn out and pulled off again, just as fast. You sit on metal pieces taped to the ground to keep you from rolling off until a pit crew member wheels you away. Out back you are poked and prodded and loaded onto a truck with all the other tuckered out tires.

Here is a panoramic shot of the pit area. Click on the image to see a larger version.

If you keep your eyes peeled you will find some interesting details. Like a can of cooking spray sitting with the pit tools. What do they use that for?!

Did you know the cars don't really have headlights? They don't need them but the cars look funny without them, so they are still painted on.

You know those sun blockers you put in your car windshield when it's sitting in the sun? They use them too. Sometimes they are drapped over the entire top of the car.

The sun can be blazing hot, so the air wrenches have metallic cozies on them to keep them cool.

This is the inside of a race car. Looks snug. Nothing like having to take off the steering wheel to get in and out.

The Kodak pit crew likes to toss a football around right before the race to loosen up.

I went on a pace car ride around the track before the race. I managed to white knuckle hold a camera up to record some video of the ride.

It was a great day. All we needed was Joel to lie on track and take pictures of the car.

For more pictures check out the blog gallery.