Drivers embrace attention boost they get from President Trump visiting Daytona 500
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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The buzz started small and grew louder at the sold-out Daytona International Speedway about an hour before the green flag dropped to officially start Sunday’s Daytona 500.
No, it wasn’t for Pitbull, a former car owner and Cuban American rapper and singer, taking the main stage for a mini-set.
It wasn’t for Anthony Mackie, star of the No. 1 movie “Captain America: Brave New World,” who was to tell the drivers to start their engines.
It wasn’t for “Reacher” star Alan Ritchson, who was to drive the pace car.
William Byron capitalizes on a late crash to move from ninth place to first on the final lap and win the Daytona 500 for the second straight year on Sunday.
It was for a Boeing VC-25 which was doing a flyby near the Speedway. The plane was also Air Force One.
President Trump arrived at Daytona Beach International Airport just before noon and took the five-minute ride to the Speedway in “The Beast,” the presidential car. After Trump got out of the car, he waved to the crowd, pumping his fist. He spent time talking to drivers, both past and present, and race officials.
Trump only gave one interview, to Fox.
“I think [the Daytona 500] is fantastic, it’s great for the country,” Trump said before touting his accomplishments since taking office. He was accompanied by one of his granddaughters.
Before the race, the modified and reinforced presidential car took a couple of laps around the banked speedway. During the laps Trump talked to drivers by radio saying: “This is your favorite president. I’m a big fan. I am a really big fan of you people. How you do this I don’t know, but I just want you to be safe. You’re talented people and you’re great people and great Americans. Have a good day, have a lot of fun and I’ll see you later.”
There was no later as Trump left on schedule during the rain delay.
Trump also came to Daytona in 2020 in a race that was halted because of weather and eventually rescheduled.
It was Trump’s second major sporting event in a week. He was also at the Super Bowl in New Orleans.
“I wasn’t sitting next to him, but I saw that he was there at the game the other day,” said Chase Elliott, who has won NASCAR’s most popular driver seven years in a row. “I think having a sitting president come and be a part of one of our biggest days of the year — certainly what I would call our biggest event of the year — I think is special. It certainly brings a lot of eyes and a different perspective to what we do down here for this race.”
The idea that it is a moment when a president visits echoed throughout the garages.
“Any time you get big-name people to come to the 500 it’s pretty special,” said Kyle Busch, a two-time Cup champion. “I remember when [President] Reagan came [in 1984] and that was special.
“It’s not just the celebrities that do the pre-race concert. The Rock [Dwayne Johnson] was here last year and I got my picture taken with him. Any time we can bring big-name people to our sport shines a brighter light on how big a deal this is.”
There was little doubt it was a Trump-friendly crowd both on and off the track. But a lot of eyes were on Bubba Wallace, the only Black driver in the race. Wallace and Trump traded barbs in 2020, first when NASCAR banned the Confederate battle flag at races. Wallace had long been a proponent of excluding the flag from events because of its symbolic support of slavery. Trump criticized the decision by NASCAR.
Shortly after, a noose was found in Wallace’s garage. It led to an outpouring of support from fellow drivers and many fans. Some found it a very unifying moment in the sport. An investigation found that the rope noose had been in the garage for many months and was not directed at Wallace.
Trump followed up with a tweet: “Has @BubbaWallace apologized to all of those great NASCAR drivers & officials who came to his aid, stood by his side, & were willing to sacrifice everything for him, only to find out that the whole thing was just another HOAX?”
Wallace did not let it go unanswered, posting: “Always deal with the hate being thrown at you with LOVE! … Love should come naturally as people are TAUGHT to hate. Even when it’s HATE from the POTUS.”
It was no surprise that at a media event on Wednesday, the first question to Wallace was about Trump coming to race.
“I couldn’t care less,” Wallace said quietly. “We’re here to race. Not for the show.”
It was clear Wallace wanted to move on and not create a controversy.
Wallace came up as a driver through NASCAR’s diversity program. Trump has pushed to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs from the federal government and beyond.
“There are sour apples out there who never fully appreciated the [benefits] of diversity,” Wallace said later. “It’s up to you to have that good spot in your heart and just treat everybody equal and how you want to be treated and it doesn’t matter what they look like. You just have to do things right. It’s not that hard to do things right and be respectful to human beings.”
Two racing officials were asked to comment about the future of NASCAR’s diversity program, but neither responded to the request.
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