Daytona 500 02/22

We wake up excited this morning to be heading to the Daytona 500.  Joe has been to see this race a couple of times but this is my first time.   This has always been the big race of the year.  It takes us 2.5 hours to reach the parking lot 7where you park, then you get on a school bus and they drive you the last 3 miles to the track.  We left home at 9:30 this morning and it is 1:00 pm by the time we finally reach our seats.  The traffic was a mess, bumper to bumper for about 20 miles.  We have really good seats and can see most of the track.  The Grandstands are packed.

The race was one of the best of all the 500's maybe in the last 10 years.  Lots of racing and not so much single file.  A couple of yellows but nothing serious.  The crowd was so into it when Dale Jr took the lead.  All of turn 4 were on their feet cheering him on.  I was so hopeful that he would win. But I would of been happy to see Jeff Gordon win also since this is to be his last Daytona 500. Jimmy Johnson managed to lead a few laps when Jr made a mistake on the restart and went back to 12th position.  A mistake he wasn't able to recover from.  The same fate met Jeff Gordon.  The last laps were so exciting as Dale Jr, Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano were racing for the lead.  Neither one could out run Logano.  Dale Jr ended up third.
It is now about 5 pm and 150,000 people need to make their way out of the stands and parking lots.  I went into the track store for some souvenirs.
We managed to get in line for the bus about 6:30 and we finally got on a bus at 7:30.  They had several lines and about 25 busses transporting everyone back to lot 7.  Lot 7 where we had to park was very swampy and Joe had to use 4 wheel drive when he parked to keep from getting stuck.  We are hoping getting out will be easier.  Luckily it was, we managed to get out and on the road quickly.  Joe found a back way into DeLand from the lot and we were eating barbecue at Sonny's Real Pit BBQ by 8:30 pm.   We're back in the park a little after 9 and I was so glad it didn't take 2.5 hours to get back home.
Tomorrow we head to Cape Canaveral and the Jetty Park Campground right on the ocean.