With President Trump set to attend his second major sporting event in a seven-day span, one of the top athletes in the sport is praising his arrival.
Sunday marks the 67th running of the Daytona 500 – the marquee event in NASCAR – and Trump is considering making the short trek north from Mar-a-Lago to Daytona Beach to attend.
Chase Elliott, who has won pole in two Daytona 500’s in the past, opened up on the idea of a sitting president attending the race.
‘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,’ Elliott said during NASCAR media day Wednesday
‘It certainly brings a lot of eyes and a different perspective to what we do down here for this race.’
When asked if he’d look forward to receiving a call from the 47th President, Elliott said, ‘That sounds like we would have won the race at that point, so that sounds like a good thing.’
NASCAR driver Chase Elliott appears to be looking forward to President Trump attending this Sunday’s Daytona 500
Trump is rumored to be set to take the trip up from Mar-a-Lago to Daytona Beach on Sunday
Bubba Wallace has said he ‘couldn’t care less’ about Trump attending the Daytona 500
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Trump has been to many NASCAR races in the past – including the Daytona 500, appearing multiple times in the late 1990s and early 2000s at the peak of the sport.
He also attended in 2020 and served as the grand marshal for the race just about a month before the world shut down due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Elliott is an ardent supporter of Trump – having previously appeared at rallies back when Trump was just a candidate in 2016.
But while Elliott is anticipating his visit, a fellow driver of his who has been attacked by Trump in the past isn’t exactly excited.
Bubba Wallace and Trump briefly feuded in 2020 after a noose was discovered in Wallace’s garage at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. Wallace is the only Black driver in the NASCAR Cup Series.
After authorities ruled that the noose had been hanging there since the previous October, Trump demanded Wallace apologize and called the situation a ‘hoax.’
When asked about Trump’s arrival on Sunday, Wallace said he ‘couldn’t care less’ if Trump attended. He added, ‘We’re here to race, not for the show.’
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