At this point (and it's still very early) I plan to travel down Thursday evening. I don't think there will be much happening early on Friday from the sounds of it. Even if I were to get down there at 12 AM I could be up in the morning by 8 and ready to go setup at the track. I'm trying to not take any more time off from work then I absolutely have to since the weekend before I will be off 2 days for Richmond.
Don't let me dictate what anybody else does. I log quite a few long trips every year without company so I don't mind traveling by myself.