DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – International Speedway Boulevard was packed on Friday night ahead of the Daytona 500 on Sunday.
NASCAR fans from around the country said they were more than happy to spend money at businesses that were hit hard during the pandemic.
Michelle Karanik said she travels to Daytona Beach every year for the race.
“I come every year. I’ve been coming 30 years and never miss it,” Karanik said. “Beautiful. That’s why I’m here. In Buffalo we have snow.”
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Cory Johnson said he hasn’t missed a race since 1985.
“It’s great. I’m glad to see that everybody is getting back to normal. We need normalcy in this world,” Johnson said. “It’s the Super Bowl of NASCAR, just like the Indy 500 is the Super Bowl of Indy cars. We have to go to every one of them.”
The 65th Running of the Daytona 500 is set to take place at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
The Reese family lives in Volusia County. The family said they were excited to experience the weekend’s festivities.
“There’s a lot more people here this year. It’s a lot more exciting to see lots of people out. A lot of people eating at restaurants and enjoying the truck race tonight,” a member of the family said. “I’m happy. We are residents of Volusia county. We are glad to see people busy, and it’s nice. Our lot we normally park in was completely full before we could get here tonight.”
NASCAR said this year marks eight years in a row that the event has sold out.
Tickets for next year’s race in 2024 are already on sale.
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