DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The Daytona 500 is big every year, but 2023 is a little more special as the Great American Race is celebrating its 65-year anniversary.
"It's for sure going to be electric," said Daytona International Speedway President, Frank Kelleher.
"I think it's so special, the reality that NASCAR today is a global property that started a few miles over on the beachside with racing on the beach and then that meeting at the Streamline Hotel which still exists today. Now 75 years later NASCAR is still celebrating itself as a sport as well as the world's biggest stock car race."
The unexpected has often happened at the Daytona 500, paired with its magnitude as the biggest race of the season, this year's milestone edition could be a big one on the track.
"Two-and-a-half miles, 31 degrees banking, this place is a beast you need to be up on the wheel for all 500 miles and you need to be there in the last ten laps," Kelleher said. "If your car is healthy and you're feeling good and you're there in the last 10 laps you authentically have a shot to win this and we saw this last year with Austin Cindric he won by .032 seconds he had to nudge his teammate out of the way and he had to throw a block on Bubba Wallace it came down to the finish here and no doubt that's what we're expecting again this year."
The track president grew up racing cars and admitted once he hears the engines roar and sees the grandstands packed, he's thought about getting behind the wheel of one of the cars.
Who wouldn't at the Great American Race.
Kelleher said tickets are sold out and is crossing his fingers for clear skies throughout the week.
Dierks Bently will perform during the Daytona 500 pre-race show, while BRELAND will perform the National Anthem.