I’m on my way to North Carolina this weekend to attend the Bank of America 500 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. This will be my second visit to the track in Charlotte. A few months back, I took a lap around the track with Martin Truex Jr. as part of a Toyota-sponsored event. This time around I’m heading to Charlotte courtesy of Valvoline, and I’m going to experience a live NASCAR race for the first time ever.

I’ve never considered myself a big NASCAR guy. I’m more of a football, baseball, soccer and situational Olypmics sports enthusiast. But from everyone I’ve talked to, attending a live NASCAR event is supposed to be fun as hell. It’s going to be loud and there will be drinks involved. How bad could it be?