Getting out of a speeding ticket with a warning can require a good driving record and a good excuse. Following Friday's qualifying at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, Top Fuel driver Mike Salinas pulled out of Bristol Dragway, headed to his hotel in Johnson City, Tenn., and got a bit lead-footed. 

Salinas was admittedly moseying along when he looked in the rear-view mirror to see blue lights. 

"I was just talking and carrying on when I got pulled over," Salinas said. "The police officer came up to the car, and he's like, 'You're 18 miles over the speed limit."

Salinas never doubted the officer's assessment as he gathered his paperwork before offering, "Yeah, I just got out of a 330-mile-an-hour race car."

The officer then asked for the credentials and walked back to his cruiser, where he did the proper background check. Moments later, the officer walked back to the car where Salinas expected to get a ticket. 

"He comes back, and he says, You know what? We love you guys being here. Slow down, have a good time." 

A surprised Salinas couldn't resist pushing NHRA Drag Racing and offered, "You got to come out to the drags and come see us." 

"He goes, 'I can hear them, but my boss won't let me go." 

There's a good reason. The patrolman's boss spent the weekend at the drag races. Salinas has been a gracious host to first responders every year he's raced the Thunder Valley Nationals. 

"They've been with us every year, and so the police department from this area, they give you the medal," Salinas said, pulling the medal from his pocket. "I carry it with me every run, and it's just a good luck charm. Man, great people everywhere we went. I love this area, just really nice."

Salinas loves the area so much, that after winning last year's Covid-delayed race declared he was going to buy a house in the community. 

"We put a couple of offers in on a couple of places, and you know those house crazy people? They bought them; they just went up," Salinas said. "We're still looking. We think we know where we kind of want to be. So we just, we'll find something. We are going to wind up out here. We will wind up out here and we have friends out here already and stuff. What's really cool is a lot of the people from here, 'So this is your home track now?" 

"It's really cool."