| If you’re a sports fan – and the fact you found your way to this column strongly suggests you might be – chances are you have a bucket list somewhere, be it written, typed or merely mentally-stored. And because the games athletes play and the stadiums where they compete and the events that highlight the sports calendar mean something to us deeper than just entertainment, that list is probably dotted with a few special trips that you one day wish to make. Maybe it is a visit to Lambeau Field in December, snow falling onto all those Cheesehead hats in your mind’s eye. A journey to the World Cup, where the flags of so many nations wave that they once made a song about it. Or to the Final Four, or the World Series of Poker. To see four screeching wheels at the Monaco Grand Prix or thundering hooves at the Kentucky Derby. No dream destination is more worthy than another but during a recent virtual reunion I was part of, there was only one event that came up more than once. The Daytona 500. Sports fans select bucket list items for a variety of reasons. Maybe it is the iconic nature of the venue that tugs at the heart strings most deeply, or the monumental importance of the title, or the electricity of the atmosphere. Daytona, which will stage its 64th running this weekend (Sunday, 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX), delivers a high-octane, fuel-doused tick in all those boxes. “Our fans are the best in all of sports, the most loyal and the most committed,” Daytona track president Frank Kelleher told me in a telephone conversation this week. “This is what they have been waiting for and you can sense what it means to everyone.” The Great American Race did take place in 2021, but with that caveat that became so familiar across all sports over the last couple of years – a restricted crowd. It would be flippant, irresponsible and factually wrong to say that the COVID-19 pandemic is finished, but the reality is that it looks overwhelmingly different now. With so much of the population vaccinated and current symptoms seemingly far less severe than at various points since early 2020, a new time in sports – that has far more in common with the old times – appears to be here. Which is why all those bucket lists that had to be put in cold storage the past couple of years are in play again. It is OK to dust them off. It is OK to start dreaming once more about the events you have always seen on television and would give anything to be at. It is OK to start looking at flights and hotels and ticket prices for whatever it is that catches your eye. There is nothing like the magic of live sports. If, like many people, you’ve been without it for what feels like too long, the return is going to be extra satisfying. When it comes to this year’s Daytona 500, many have seemingly had the same idea. A mass collection of humanity has congregated in Florida to soak in all the nostalgia and all the new stuff, most pertinently the revolutionary NextGen cars that will be on full display. Daytona International Speedway is a monumentally large space and every cranny of it is going to be filled this weekend. More than six weeks out, the event was announced as a complete sellout, the first time in 14 years that milestone was completed so early. Since then, extra bits of available room were carved out and went on sale – and they got snapped up, too. The diehards have their own differing views on the best place to watch from – an infield spot, a bird’s eye view from the top of the stands, and so on. Personally speaking, as someone with Daytona on my bucket list but not to be fulfilled this year, the “glamping” section – infield tents that have more in common with a penthouse suite than the sleeping bag experience of your youth – sounds pretty darn amazing. The indicators that this would be something special began in January, when 10,000 fans turned up at Daytona merely to get a look at the NextGen vehicles being tested. This week, the anticipation has been building ever since the first fans arrived. “Without question, the drivers build off the energy of the crowd,” FOX Sports NASCAR Writer Bob Packrass told me. “It is a bit harder to feel the fans than at a basketball game, but the guys still get a strong sense. They see the fans waving, they feel the excitement. Most certainly they felt the difference at the races without a crowd.” Last year’s surprise champion Michael McDowell is very much an outsider again this time, priced at +7000 with FOX Bet. Denny Hamlin is the favorite at +800, while Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and Joey Logano are all expected to contend. But one thing is for sure, the race will deliver some kind of drama, mixed in with the ever-present feel-good factor, a dash of history and perhaps some old school normalcy again. Or maybe a better way to describe it is as an enhanced sense of normalcy, for it’s hard to appreciate something as fully as you might until the threat of it being taken away becomes real. Whether Daytona lands on your bucket list or not, those heaving stands are something to be celebrated. Sports at its best, packed to capacity with those who love it. The kind of thing that has been missed for so long – and more than we ever thought possible. |
