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Daytona Rising: Ground breaking has begun for the renovations

Daytona International Speedway and International Speedway Corporation held the ground breaking ceremony today for what is now known as “Daytona Rising”.

Daytona Rising event: winners Trevor Bayne, Wood Brothers Racing Ford and Greg Biffle, Roush Fenway Racing Ford with Daytona International Speedway President Joie Chitwood

Daytona Rising event: winners Trevor Bayne, Wood Brothers Racing Ford and Greg Biffle, Roush Fenway Racing Ford with Daytona International Speedway President Joie Chitwood

Eric Gilbert

On June 18th, Daytona International Speedway announced the final plans for their multi-million dollar renovations had been approved. Today the ground breaking ceremony took place before this weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and their Nationwide series take to the track for the traditional July 4th weekend.

The construction will begin after the Saturday night 400 race for the Sprint Cup drivers. The Nationwide race will be tonight.

The first race in 2014 will be the 24 Hours of Daytona Rolex sportscar race before the start of NASCAR Speedweeks.

Taking part in the ceremony today were Trevor Bayne, Wood Brothers Racing Ford and Greg Biffle, Roush Fenway Racing Ford after they teamed up to win the Daytona Rising 500 event. Their rival teams consisted of Ryan Newman and Jeff Burton, and Darrell Waltrip with Larry McReynolds. The three teams had to complete a task using a front-end loader and the first to complete the assignment won.

Daytona Rising event: winners Trevor Bayne, Wood Brothers Racing Ford and Greg Biffle, Roush Fenway Racing Ford with Daytona International Speedway President Joie Chitwood
Daytona Rising event: winners Trevor Bayne, Wood Brothers Racing Ford and Greg Biffle, Roush Fenway Racing Ford with Daytona International Speedway President Joie Chitwood

Photo by: Eric Gilbert

The two winners, Biffle and Bayne had the special honor of breaking the ground but instead of shovels, a backhoe was in place ready for the first scoops to be taken which signifies that the future has begun for the historic speedway.

Said Biffle, "It's been a while since I've won here in Daytona, so it was real nice."

Bayne added, "I did not know what I was doing at all," Bayne said. "I was thinking about the levers all night last night."

Daytona Rising will see many changes including five redesigned fan entrances on the front stretch with each entrance leading to a series of escalators and elevators to transport fans to three different concourse levels. Each level will have one or more neighborhoods, each measuring the size of a football field, enabling fans to meet and socialize during events without missing the on-track action.

“We are truly creating history with this unprecedented endeavor, said ISC’s chief operating officer Lesa France Kennedy. “The decision was made with strong consideration of the current macroeconomic condition and a clear view for our long-term growth.”

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