CONCORD, N.C. — High above the Charlotte Motor Speedway, a group of residents who were the only fans in America to watch the Coca-Cola 600 live in-person last year will do it again this year.

Racing returns to Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend and will be able to hold 100% capacity after lifting COVID-19 restrictions.

Last year, the Coca-Cola 600 was closed to fans, and Charlotte’s pinnacle sporting event sat, almost, empty.

Christian Espinoza was one of the few fans in America able to watch the race live and in-person last year thanks to his residence.

Espinoza lives in one of several condos above the Speedway. 

“Yeah, this was 2017 when I was first up here I believe, and yeah that was insane, getting to live here,” Espinoza said, looking back on the winding road to live at the speedway.

Four years ago, a friend offered Espinoza a spot to rent in one of the condos. A year and a half later, his family purchased Espinoza’s current condo. It gave him a permanent front row seat to every racing event at the course.

“I call this one condo corner,” Espinoza told Spectrum News 1, referencing a corner of the turn far below.

Espinoza is hard at work trying to earn his real estate license.

The unique living situation gave him unparalleled access to last year’s race, back when NASCAR was just returning to racing, stands were closed and America was at the height of battling COVID-19.

"That was four days in a row of racing with nobody in the stands, which was weird,” he recalled.

After a debate between NASCAR, the state of North Carolina and condo owners, Espinoza was allowed to bring four friends up to his condo for the 2020 race. But, looking back, he said the silence on race day was deafening.

"One of the weirdest things I found during the race, that was since everything was empty, the cars were so much louder,” Espinoza added.

Now, this year will be much different.

"The biggest thing that I’m looking forward to is my family gets to come out, cause they didn’t get to make it out here last year,” the west coast transplant explained.

It will be a green flag on fun for Espinoza, his family, Charlotte and the state. As close to normal as a North Carolina sporting event has been since last spring, before the pandemic changed everything.

"It’ll just be good to see people back here, just enjoying the May race, cause this is, in my opinion, it’s my Super Bowl,” he said with a smile.

Espinoza’s fandom came from a gift from his grandfather while growing up in California. 

"I’ve been a NASCAR fan since I was 4 years old. My granpda gave me a die cast out of nowhere,” he said, which he still owns.

The small Matt Kenseth model car sits on a piece of his condo furniture, a reminder of what started his fandom all those years ago.

"I’m actually the only one of my family who’s out here. Everyone’s still home, we’re from Southern California, and I came out here for college to UNC Charlotte,” Espinoza said. 

The college experience added to his fandom.

“I got my media hard card to travel around to the races, and I got to cover probably at least 40 of them in my time in college,” he said.

With his favorite tracks like Talladega a yearly tradition, it will just feel good for Espinoza and his family to be back together for a race in the Queen City.

However, even though capacity will be at 100%, the speedway is still requiring digital tickets and cashless souvenir and food purchases to cut down on person to person contact.

They are also asking any unvaccinated fans to wear a mask and socially distance.

The Coca-Cola 600 begins at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 30th. Tickets are still available.