The Daytona 500 is very exhilarating when you sit in the grandstands. On February 19, 2024, I attended the 66th annual Daytona 500.  

Getting to the stadium is a job in itself. There is no parking, and where we had to park, we had to ride buses to the track. The buses run on a muddy powerline road for two miles. Once you get to the stadium, you can shop in semi-trailer stores. 

To get into the stadium, you need to go through security. It is not like airport security; it’s a metal detector, and you’re through. The stadium is massive. It took us 20 minutes to get to our seats. The stadium has many convenience stores, fast food, beer stands, and more. 

Once you get to your seats, you are able to see the whole two-and-a-half-mile track. There is tons of cool stuff in the midfield. There are garages, a big bar, and even a gas station. 

Everyone is on their tippy toes when the race starts, all wondering who will win the great race. I was rooting on the Napa car number 9 driven by Chase Elliot. The cars are extremely loud, vibrating the stands when passing by. The first crash of the race was on lap 5. It was right in front of the grandstands. Wow, it was awesome. There was smoke everywhere, and you could see it well. After that, there were no crashes till the last 20 laps. On the race’s last leg, the racers like to do crazy things to get the lead. There was a bad crash on lap 191, which was also excellent. 

On the very last lap, there was another crash and that led William Byron to win the Daytona 500. William Byron was super lucky for this crash to happen. If it wasn’t for the crash he would have had to take one more lap. That could have ended badly with someone taking the lead or a big crash. 

The race was so fantastic it was about four hours long, and it felt like five minutes. I loved every second of the race and want to return for round two next year.