Sheetz offered gas for $1.776 on July 4 in NC. Where were the shortest lines?

Driving in from Tryon Road to take a right turn onto Jones Franklin, traffic abruptly stopped.

At that crossroads, there was a bottleneck to enter the Sheetz gas station, which was taking part in a company promotion and slashing the price of gas to just $1.776 all day Tuesday.

This discount applies at all Sheetz locations in six states including North Carolina and Virginia, and applies to regular, E85 (flex fuel), Unleaded 88, mid-grade and premium fuel grades, according to a news release by the convenience chain.

Diesel and ethanol-free fuels are excluded. The deal runs till the end of the day, or till the gas runs out.

Cecilia Panicci said she got to the Sheetz station in Cary at about 10:20 a.m. and “got gas pretty fast,” because she pulled in from Jones Franklin Road going southwest.

“That line is a lot shorter than this line,” she said.

Still, it took her 40 minutes to get gas, filling up “at 11 o’clock almost on the dot,” she said.

The cost was worth the wait for her as she was able to fill up her tank for $20. Usually, this would cost her $40 or more, she said. After she got her gas, she went inside the shop to grab some snacks and spend some of her “20 on something else.”

Panicci said the trip did not pull her from Fourth of July celebrations and she planned to go home and play a video game but she had “saved her receipt” to “show off to her roommate.”

For some, like Laverne Alan, the “line was too long” and she did not get gas despite waiting for a while. Alan said, in addition to the wait, she was concerned that the gas might run out by the time she made it to the pump.

She said Sheetz employees had told her “once the gas is gone, it’s gone.”

The News & Observer asked employees inside Sheetz for comment but they said they were unable to speak with the media. They deferred to Nick Ruffner, Sheetz public relations manager, who was not immediately available via a telephone number provided by employees.

Tyler Best zoomed through the line in Cary.

Best went at dawn Tuesday to fill up at a Sheetz in Knightdale but the line was “a mile long, so I came over here where my girlfriend stays,” he said.

The line in Cary was “a lot shorter” and took him about 10 minutes to get gas, which rang up to about half what it usually costs him, he said.

Imaiah Willaims, 18, who heard about the discounted prices from her family, also found a faster line in Cary.

She said she had initially gone to the Sheetz on Corporate Center Drive in Raleigh.

There, she sat in line for over an hour, she said.

She went to Cary and there it took her about 15 minutes to get gas. Despite the delays, she said the trip did not take her away from anything important and that she planned to start Independence Day celebrations later in the day.

Williams urged people to “come out and get it.”

As of July 4, the average for a gallon of regular gas was $3.53 nationally and in North Carolina according to AAA.

Find your nearest Sheetz at: https://orders.sheetz.com/findASheetz