Photos: Monster Energy Supercross - Seattle Race Action

Not only was this RV's first race back since his illness, but his first race in Seattle on a 450 and first time not racing with his usual mechanic (John Mitcheff) since turning pro. Mike Williamson (shown here), who happens to be Stewart's former mechanic and Ferry's this year, filled in for Mitcheff who was reportedly attending his father's funeral back home.

The Dirt Wurx guys had tentatively figured that rain was likely, so they mixed in a whole bunch of sand with the usual pumice-filled soil that usually makes up Seattle's track. When they realized it wasn't going to rain after all, they then put a bunch of concrete mix in with the hopes of holding the sand together a bit more. What you see in the photo above is the result of all that mixing - and the result was... a sandy track surface.