We love hearing from first-time race attendees about their experience! This time we have a fan experience from the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Meet our follower Daniel Harper who shared his time at Charlotte with us.
Coca-Cola 600
Tiffany Faw: First, tell us a bit about you and who you attended the race with.
Daniel Harper: I’m Daniel Harper and my buddy is Brandon Montgomery. We met on Xbox racing NASCAR 2014 and became good friends. We have gone to many races together. We’re both from Alabama. Our home track is Talladega Superspeedway and we’ve both been NASCAR fans for many years.
Faw: Do you have a favorite driver or team?
Harper: My favorite team is RFK Racing and favorite driver is Brad Keselowski.
Faw: Why did you choose to attend the Coca-Cola 600?
Harper: We chose the 600 because behind the Daytona 500, it is NASCAR’s second biggest race of the season and it was a bucket list track for us.
Faw: What was your impression of Charlotte Motor Speedway?
Harper: The track was one of the nicest we’ve been to. It was bigger then I had thought it would be, so that was a surprise. We were really impressed for sure. We both thought the concessions stands were priced pretty good. We’ve been to some that take a long time to get food and are way overpriced, but Charlotte was pretty good. There were all kinds of different options to choose from. Can’t complain about that at all. The fan zone area is the best I’ve been to hands down.
Pre-Race, Rain Delay, Outside the Track
Faw: What did you think of the pre-race activities?
Harper: We did purchase pre-race track passes. They were great race day addition and worth the money. We didn’t meet any drivers, we tried during intros but none stopped for us. We did see the Blackhawks fly in up close. That was the coolest thing ever!
Faw: What did you think of the race?
Harper: The on-track product was good in my opinion. It was fun watching them slide and have to move around to find speed and a line that worked for their car. Best time was watching our favorite driver, Keselowski, rocket thru the field from 30th. The bummer had to be the way it all ended. We kind of felt robbed by NASCAR for sure.
Faw: How did you wait out the rain delay?
Harper: We spent the first part of the rain delay grabbing something to eat. We then spent time talking to some friends we made under the grandstands. When the rain stopped we made our way back to our seats, dried them off and got ourselves ready for what we thought was going to be the finish of the Coke 600. Obviously that didn’t happen.
Faw: Did you do anything fun away from the racetrack?
Harper: Yes. We went to the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Monday after the race before we headed home. That was a cool experience that everyone should check out.
Track Takeaways
Faw: What were your takeaways from the weekend? Any tips for other first-timers to Charlotte Motor Speedway?
Harper: The race weekend was great, until the ending of the Cup race. I’m mad at NASCAR over the decision to end the race that early. I would tell first- timers to have fun and take a lot of pictures and videos. The weekend goes by quick, so make sure to enjoy it. Charlotte is a great track and you do not want to skip the fan zone.
Faw: Finally, would you attend another Coca-Cola 600 in the future?
Harper: Other than the ending, we had a great time at Charlotte. So, yes, I would attend again. Hopefully we make it for the 600 again one day and actually see the whole 600 miles this time!
Thank you to Daniel for answering my questions about the race experience and sharing his pictures! We are always looking for more first-time race attendees, so reach out if you will be attending a race soon!
This was a good review. He told it like it is.