Fans talk Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway

DARLINGTON, S.C. (WBTW) — The excitement is revving up for one of NASCAR’s most cherished traditions, the Goodyear 400.

Blake and Hannah Fortner, fans from Lancaster, South Carolina, said the weekend is a full experience.

“It’s not just going to a game on a Friday night,” Hannah said. “We’re here, we get to do the whole weekend, we get to go to the track multiple times, there’s qualifying and practices, and multiple different races. So, you really get to do, like you are immersed for an extended period of time.”

Dustin Standford, a NASCAR fan from Monroe, North Carolina said racing is in his blood.

“Been racing ever since I’ve been born,” Stanford. “So, we love it, I can name any question you can ask me I could probably name it to be honest with you. I’m pretty big on trivia and stuff like that so I just can’t get enough of it.”

Black and Hannah Fortner are friends with Dustin Standford.

The trio said they were excited to get ready for the big weekend filled with high-speed races.

They said the atmosphere for NASCAR’s throwback weekend is more than just about a race, it’s a celebration of where the sport started and each year it gets better and better.

“A lot of time and heart and money goes into this and it’s a tradition,” Blake said. “And we continue to meet new people and as we meet new people the trip gets better and better.”

Standford said they come down for four or five days and can’t wait to get here and hate to leave.

The races kick off Friday with the NASCAR craftsmen truck series, followed by the NASCAR Xfinity series on Saturday and the grand finale, the Goodyear 400 on Sunday.

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Tomika Jackson joined News13 in April 2024 as a multimedia journalist. She started her journalism career in 2000 with previous stops at WALB TV10, CBS47 & WTOC11 in Savannah, Georgia. Tomika is a Georgia native and Valdosta State University graduate. Follow Tomika on X, formerly Twitter , and Instagram . You can read more of her work here .

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