DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It is one of the biggest weekends in Daytona Beach, with over 200,000 race fans gearing up for the Daytona 500 on Sunday.
There are several races at the track in the days leading up to the big race, but changes are already being made to the schedule because of the forecast.
Daytona International Speedway leaders told News 6 they moved up the ARCA Menard race to Friday — originally scheduled for Saturday — in hopes the weather would be better Friday night.
Regardless of the rain, though, NASCAR super fans told News 6 they were planning for a great weekend.
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“Daytona rocks! Everyone should do it at least once. It’s a bucket list item,” said John Simons, who drove in from Sebastian.
Hundreds of RVs packed into the infield, with race fans traveling in from all over the world.
“The excitement and vibe out here is unbelievable. There’s so many of us that this is our first time. We’re already hooked and already making plans for next year. We’re not even through Friday yet,” said Pete Boland from St. Petersburg.
Speedway president, Frank Kelleher, told News 6 that the race sold out in November.
“This was our ninth consecutive year to sell out, and it was the earliest sellout of the ‘Great American Race’ ever,” he said.
Everyone’s eyes were also on the skies, though.
Kelleher said they’re keeping their fingers crossed for a miracle in the weather Sunday but have a contingency plan.
“It hurts. We don’t want to really think about it, but we have to, and we’ve been for days. If we cannot get the race in on Sunday, there’s already conversations of what the program could look like on Monday,” he said.
The last time the race had to be pushed to a Monday because of the weather was in 2020.
If it rains, the race has to stop the cars and crews have to dry the track before the race can pick back up. The races also have to stop for 30 minutes for each lightning strike.
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