CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Michael Michalski of Baltimore experienced his first Circle K Speed Street Music Festival on Friday.

It was a spur-of-the-moment trip.

“My wife called me Wednesday and said it was going to rain in Baltimore, would I like to come to Charlotte?” he said.

So he packed up his camper and drove his wife and kids to the Queen City the same night.

People from all over the world crowded the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord on Friday night. It’s the return of the Coca-Cola 600 — with sold-out events for the first time since the pandemic started.

It’s also the first time the Circle K Speed Street Music Festival is at the speedway.

NASCAR has been a family tradition since Michalski was his sons’ age.

“My dad and my grandfather ran NASCAR,” he said. “I drove a late-model sportsman for a little while.“

Now, Michalski’s passing the baton to his sons. They both race go-karts and already have favorite NASCAR drivers — Noah Michalski’s is Joey Logano.

“I think that he’s good on the track, and like he’s a really smart driver,” Noah said.

Another first for Speed Street was virtual reality gadgets brought by the U.S. Air Force.

Noah and his little brother even got a chance to get their hands dirty — virtually that is, which happens to be dad’s favorite part.

“They’re having fun, doing stuff they’ve never done before,” Michalski said.

He had high expectations for his first experience at this track, and it’s already better than he imagined, and it certainly won’t be their last time here.

“Matter of fact, we’re already booked for next year,” he said.

Grand Stand tickets are sold out for Sunday, but tickets are still available for Saturday’s Xfinity Series race. All race tickets will get you into Speed Street and concerts.