NASCAR Reveals Plans to Host Around 30,000 Spectators for the 2021 Daytona 500

For the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has been wreaking havoc around the world. Sport has been one of the many things affected by this pandemic, thus forcing several compromises. Ahead of the season-opening Daytona 500, there will be more compromises, especially on the spectator front.

As it turns out, the track authorities set a ceiling of 30,000 fans to attend February’s race. For obvious reasons, NASCAR President Steve Phelps is trying his level best to bring back as many spectators as possible. In the buildup to the 2021 NASCAR Cup season, Phelps revealed that that was the target they planned to hit for the weekend.

Previously, there were plenty of plans for a reduced capacity crowd. However, NASCAR remained mum on the specifics of spectator attendance.

How will NASCAR tackle this ahead of the Daytona 500?

“The first and foremost obviously is trying to keep our competitors and our fans safe when they come to our facility, so we are eager as all sports are to welcome fans back,” Phelps said.

“We were very aggressive in bringing fans back to this sport, so for us it’s more of the same early on obviously. So at the Daytona 500, we will have fans. In fact, we’ll have a fairly robust number of fans, probably in the 30,000 range plus camping, but we have to do it responsibly.”

As it turns out, the venue has a maximum seating capacity of 101,000 in its frontstretch grandstand. In addition to that, it also boasts of having space for more than a thousand people on its campgrounds.

It is noteworthy that the ‘Great American Race’ is kicking off one week after Super Bowl LV. That event is expected to house around 22,000 fans on-site at Raymond James Stadium. Of course, this pandemic will severely affect the track and will break a five-year streak of full sellouts.