It's NASCAR Season

Git 'r done! For some reason that phrase always comes to mind when I think about NASCAR.

We're at the height of NASCAR season this week, with the All-Star race held last Saturday at Lowe's Motor Speedway and the Coca-Cola 600 taking place there this Sunday. It's this week in between that fans enjoy most, and the annual Food Lion Speed Street festival is the highlight. It runs tomorrow through Saturday and will be taking over the streets of uptown. This is one of the largest, if not the largest, annual festivals in Charlotte, with a reported attendance of more than 400,000 people last year.

NASCAR fans go to see the cars and memorabilia and for the chance to get an autograph from a popular driver. If you're not a race fan, you might want to go for the live music. There are three stages that will feature more than 30 acts. This year's line-up seems to have a little more soul with the highlight being Jagged Edge's performance scheduled for Thursday at 9:30 p.m. on the Coca-Cola Stage. Fellow R&B singer and Rock Hill native Rudy Currence performs on the same stage earlier in the evening at 5:30 p.m. UnCommon Jazz and R&B cover band U-Neek Flavur both perform on Saturday. Admission to the festivities is free. Click here for more details on Speed Street.

I'm currently working on a magazine feature on a NASCAR team and that has allowed me to spend time around the sport this week. I'll wrap up my reporting by attending the race on Sunday. That's a Memorial Day weekend tradition for many of the 100,000-plus fans who'll be there. I don't ever see myself becoming an actual fan of racing but the more I cover it and the more I learn about it, the more I've come to appreciate it. The drivers and their teams work really hard, and their fans are very loyal. What more could you ask for in a sport? And at the race, the food and beer will be free flowing. What more could you ask for at a game?