Experiencing Florida's Daytona 500 with Trade Pro Winners

During the yearly Trade Pro Appreciation Events, Tile Outlets of America awards as grand prizes tickets to the Daytona 500. For the second year now, a representative from Tile Outlets has joined the trade pro winners from the three stores in Fort Myers, Sarasota and Tampa, Florida.

>> Here are details about the 2017 event: Tile Contractors Experience Daytona 500 with Tile Outlets of America.

Tile Outlets Experiences the 2018 Daytona 500 with Tile Contractor Trade Pro Winners

If you're not familiar with the Daytona 500, it's a 500-mile-long Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series motor race that takes 200 laps over three stages. The race is held every year at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.

2018 marked the 60th edition of the "pinnacle for the six decades of historic performances, heroic figures and spectacular moments that transformed Bill France's dream into "The Great American Race".

Great Viewing Location

As you might imagine, we - along with the grand prize trade pro winners from the three Tile Outlets stores - were ready to experience this amazing event! We were all in the stands watching Austin Dillon #3 take the race at Daytona International Speedway.

Our seats were perfect! We were in the Trioval Club with seats just down from the start-finish line, and across from pit road. We had a great view of the entire race track. What we couldn’t see on the track, we could find on the giant TV in front of us. Plus, the weather was perfect for racing.

No surprise that the day was filled with great racing, disappointing crashes and a big finish for #3 Austin Dillon, first-time winner of Daytona 500!

Festivities Before the Race

Daytona 500 kicks off the event with infield festivities which included Rascal Flatts singing a few songs, the Navy Band Southeast performing the National Anthem and the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds flying over the Daytona International Speedway and breaking into an impressive formation at the perfect time.

Meet the 2018 Trade Pro Winners!

From Fort Myers, Florida

Here are the winners from Fort Myers: John Mattheiss with Monterey Cabinets and his son Cole who attended with him.

John was a huge fan of the Joe Gibbs racing team and was rooting for #20 Erik Jones. He obtained Erik's signature on the Toyota T-shirt he wore on day two of the Daytona 500.

From Sarasota, Florida

Representing the Sarasota store market were Joseph Terrone and his wife Roxanne from Rose Garden Remodeling.

They had never been to a race before and enjoyed the great race day supporting #24 William Bryon. As you can see in the image below, Roxanne is wearing a t-shirt supporting Byron, a young Nascar driver.

Here you see the Fort Myers and Sarasota guests on the first night of racing.

Saturday is the Xfinity race which ended in a photo finish as you see below! That's what makes racing what it is. You must stay until the end because you never know what is going to happen.

#9 Tyler Reddick won this Xfinity Race. He is also a young driver in the sport. This race ended with five overtimes and the favorites to win were wrecked in the first overtime period.

We're happy for Tyler Reddick to cross with a photo finish.

From Tampa, Florida

Tampa winner Aldo Merlo with Merlo & Associate attended with a friend. They enjoyed all the pre-race festivities down on the track.

Additional Highlights from the 2018 Daytona 500

Here are some additional highlights worth sharing.

Always an exciting view and moment is the start of the race where you hear the announcement, “Drivers start your engines.”

We ended the race under the lights and a perfect sunset.

Here is a group shot of the 2018 Trade Pro winners at the end of the Daytona 500 race.

Some Daytona 500 History

Interesting perspective on the 2018 winner, #3 Austin Dillon.

Twenty years ago, Dale Earnhart won this race in car #3. Austin was a child and in the winning circle for that win. Dale Sr. died at the Dayton 500, 17 years ago on the exact day February 18, 2001.

Austin just started racing as the #3 car this year; he put a lucky penny in the car from a fan (same as Dale Sr. had in his car) and Austin won at the last minute. Maybe it was the lucky penny or the #3 car.

In the photo below, you see me, my husband Spence - and biggest race fan ever- and my little brother who came to enjoy the festivities. He had never seen a race in person. He was cheering for car #3 Austin Dillon and was so happy when he won.

What an amazing experience to spend this time in such good company with the Tile Outlets Trade Pro winners!

Learn More About the Tile Outlets of America Trade Pro Program

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Thanks for reading!

Kate