We're hittin' the road ... with Jeff, Pat and Joe

Kansas Speedway's Jeff Boerger, Pat Warren and Joe Fowler are driving to Daytona Beach, Fla., for the 50th running of the Daytona 500. The trio is making the trek in the Kansas Speedway RV, promoting the speedway and racing.

NASCAR.COM is keeping up with the wayward travelers as they make their way to the Great American Race with this from-the-road blog:

Kansas Speedway

Jeff Boerger and "Carl Edwards" stop at the University of Missouri football stadium in Columbia.

And they're off!

Kansas Speedway president Jeff Boerger set off on his RV trip to the Daytona 500 at 7:30 a.m. CT; the first part of the trip included stops in both Columbia, Mo., and St. Louis.

The trip from Kansas Speedway to Daytona Beach is 1,253.78 miles, or 836 laps around 1.5 mile Kansas Speedway. With Jimmie Johnson's pole qualifying time for the Daytona 500, it would take him 6.7 hours to make the trip to Daytona Beach from Kansas City. ... It will take Boerger and Kansas Speedway staffers Pat Warren and Joe Fowler almost 20 hours.

Kansas Speedway

Dinner at Logan's Roadhouse, where our wayward travelers met Kristen Cornwell of Marshall County, Ky.

Georgia on my mind

Jeff Boerger, Pat Warren and Joe Fowler are well into their trip to the 50th running of the Daytona 500. Orginal plans had them spending the night any where from Nashville to Chattanooga, but they've made it to Macon, Ga., for the night. No word on whether the weather is getting any warmer on their trip.

The trio made a stop in Paducah, Ky., this afternoon to have dinner with Kansas Speedway season ticket holder Chuck Norris. Chuck affectionately refers to Kansas Speedway as "the Big K" and considers it the best track in NASCAR. Chuck's favorite driver is Dale Earnhardt Jr., so he had to be excited about Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout win with his favorite announcer, Darrell Waltrip, calling the race.

Chuck toured Kansas Speedway in 2004 with Jeff and asked him to stop the car at the start/finish line -- and Chuck got out of the car and kissed the line.

The foursome ate dinner at Logan's Roadhouse (Chuck's favorite) where they met with Kristen Cornwell of Marshall County, Ky., who's another big Dale Jr. fan.

No "Carl Edwards" sightings on this leg of the trip.

End of the Road

The trio departed Macon, Ga., around 9 a.m. to finish the final leg of the trip.

While Jeff made phone calls to radio stations throughout the country, it was a flip of the coin to see who would have to do the driving for a while. The winner (depending on how you look at it) was Joe.

The group had an exhasutive day the day before and was looking forward to hitting the beaches in Daytona.

Around 6 p.m. the group finally arrived in Daytona and pulled into the infield at Daytona International Speedway.

"Carl Edwards" was too busy focusing on what it would take to win the 50th running of the Daytona 500; the group didn't stop to do any sightseeing.