The thrill began small and grew louder on the sold-out Daytona Worldwide Speedway about an hour earlier than the inexperienced flag dropped to .
No, it wasn’t for Pitbull, a former automotive proprietor and Cuban American rapper and singer, taking the principle stage for a mini-set.
It wasn’t for Anthony Mackie, star of the No. 1 film “Captain America: Courageous New World,” who was to inform the drivers to begin their engines.
It wasn’t for “Reacher” star Alan Ritchson, who was to drive the tempo automotive.
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It was for a Boeing VC-25 which was doing a flyby close to the Speedway. The airplane was additionally .
arrived at Daytona Seaside Worldwide Airport simply earlier than midday and took the five-minute journey to the Speedway in “The Beast,” the presidential automotive. After Trump received out of the automotive, he waved to the gang, pumping his fist. He frolicked speaking to drivers, each previous and current, and race officers.
Trump solely gave one interview, to Fox.
“I believe [the Daytona 500] is incredible, it’s nice for the nation,” Trump mentioned earlier than touting his accomplishments since taking workplace. He was accompanied by one in every of his granddaughters.
Earlier than the race, the modified and bolstered presidential automotive took a few laps across the banked speedway. Trump was ushered to a personal viewing suite within the infield.
Trump was scheduled to depart the race about 3:05 p.m. and arrive again in South Florida about 4:15 p.m.
Trump additionally got here to Daytona in 2020 in a race that was halted due to climate and ultimately rescheduled.
It was Trump’s second main sporting occasion in every week. He was additionally on the Tremendous Bowl in New Orleans.
“I wasn’t sitting subsequent to him, however I noticed that he was there on the recreation the opposite day,” mentioned Chase Elliott, who has gained NASCAR’s hottest driver seven years in a row. “I believe having a sitting president come and be part of one in every of our largest days of the 12 months — definitely what I’d name our largest occasion of the 12 months — I believe is particular. It definitely brings a variety of eyes and a special perspective to what we do down right here for this race.”
The concept it’s a second when a president visits echoed all through the garages.
“Any time you get big-name individuals to come back to the five hundred it’s fairly particular,” mentioned Kyle Busch, a two-time Cup champion. “I bear in mind when [President] Reagan got here [in 1984] and that was particular.
“It’s not simply the celebrities that do the pre-race live performance. The Rock [Dwayne Johnson] was right here final 12 months and I received my image taken with him. Any time we will carry big-name individuals to our sport shines a brighter mild on how massive a deal that is.”
There was little doubt it was a Trump-friendly crowd each on and off the monitor. However a variety of eyes have been on Bubba Wallace, the one Black driver within the race. Wallace and Trump traded barbs in 2020, first when NASCAR banned the Accomplice battle flag at races. Wallace had lengthy been a proponent of excluding the flag from occasions due to its symbolic assist of slavery. Trump criticized the choice by NASCAR.
Shortly after, a noose was present in Wallace’s storage. It led to an outpouring of assist from fellow drivers and plenty of followers. Some discovered it a really unifying second within the sport. An investigation discovered that the rope noose had been within the storage for a lot of months and was not directed at Wallace.
Wallace didn’t let it go unanswered, posting: “All the time cope with the hate being thrown at you with LOVE! … Love ought to come naturally as individuals are TAUGHT to hate. Even when it’s HATE from the POTUS.”
It was no shock that at a media occasion on Wednesday, the primary query to Wallace was about Trump coming to race.
“I couldn’t care much less,” Wallace mentioned quietly. “We’re right here to race. Not for the present.”
It was clear Wallace needed to maneuver on and never create an argument.
Wallace got here up as a driver by NASCAR’s range program. Trump has pushed to get rid of range, fairness and inclusion (DEI) applications from the federal authorities and past.
“There are bitter apples on the market who by no means totally appreciated the [benefits] of range,” Wallace mentioned later. “It’s as much as you to have that great place in your coronary heart and simply deal with all people equal and the way you need to be handled and it doesn’t matter what they appear to be. You simply need to do issues proper. It’s not that tough to do issues proper and be respectful to human beings.”
Two racing officers have been requested to remark about the way forward for NASCAR’s range program, however neither responded to the request.
This story initially appeared in .
