Mattias Ekstrom didn't even stop to think about it -- he was just enjoying the moment last weekend at Richmond International Raceway.

It took an observer who knew a little about the atmosphere surrounding motorsports in Europe, and in addition around the Cup Series, to put it in perspective after watching Ekstrom leave the drivers' meeting that was held in a tent in the center of Richmond's infield.

“

I think I've signed maybe 20, 25 autographs the whole weekend. So it's pretty cool [because] that would be maybe five minutes in Europe.

”

-- MATTIAS EKSTROM

Ekstrom had an appointment at his trailer, so he went right out the front and turned right to go in the Cup garage's backside gate to make the 175-yard hike to his hauler. He walked through a sea of upturned eyes and poised pens, Sharpies and cameras.

And an amazing thing happened. Actually, nothing happened.

It was one of those things that, every so often if you hang around enough NASCAR venues, you'll see and it just leaves you shaking your head at the wonderment of it all. A driver of his international stature being unrecognized at a track qualifies as almost incomprehensible.

"Would you be able to walk straight through the middle of the paddock at Hockenheim, or even Brands Hatch [in England, where his primary series raced two weekends ago] -- and not have anyone have any clue who you were?" Ekstrom was asked on the eve of the seventh annual cutoff race to set the field for the Chase.

He thought about it for a second, smiled, and patiently explained that for the German Touring Car Series, the DTM, there are fewer than 20 drivers and "only the drivers and team managers go to the briefing, which is held on pit road, so the fans can't get at you."

And they don't get a look into what's an eye-opening experience, even for as veteran a racer as Ekstrom is.

"Our drivers' briefing is very small and it's not a big celebration -- we don't have to pray or say 'amen,' -- it's very different," Ekstrom said. "In the DTM paddock I would not walk very long before someone would ask for an autograph, or to take a photo -- it's pretty wild. So from that point of view, it's quite nice here, to get a weekend with peace and quiet."

That European reality is akin to what Dale Earnhardt Jr. or Jeff Gordon experiences here, where every move they make in public at a track is surrounded by a crowd of fans similar to a moving dust cloud.

"I think I've signed maybe 20, 25 autographs the whole weekend," Ekstrom said. "So it's pretty cool [because] that would be maybe five minutes in Europe."

It was Ekstrom's contention that Gordon or Jimmie Johnson might not get through a European paddock quite so clandestinely, "because I think people know who they are, but that's about it. But the funny stuff is, if you were to send Kasey Kahne [to Europe] he would enjoy it the same way [as I am], because nobody knows Kasey Kahne."

But flying under the radar aside, Ekstrom, a two-time DTM champion, made a giant step toward becoming "just one of the guys" in the Cup garage after only his second race. Even, that is, if hardly anyone knows he's there. (Continued)