Daytona 500: NASCAR becomes hot new investment for celebrities
Pitbull, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Michael Jordan put their money on racing
Daytona 500: Celebrities cash in on NASCAR racing
NASCAR has become the hot new investment for celebrities. FOX Business’ Connell McShane with more.
NASCAR has become the hot new investment for celebrities.
While NASCAR racers are gearing up for this year’s Daytona 500, spectators may see some featured cars owned by celebrities on the track – from Grammy Award-winning artist Pitbull to boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and even NBA legend Michael Jordan.
"Someone like Pitbull or Floyd Mayweather [does] not just take an interest in the sport, not just shows up, but invests in a race team… they're all in," FOX NASCAR announcer Mike Joy told FOX Business’ Connell McShane.
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"I think the casual viewer at home says, ‘Well, you know if Pitbull is interested in this, if he's invested in this, maybe it's something I ought to take a look at.'"
Michael McDowell, driver of the #34 Front Row Motorsports Loves Travel Stops Ford Mustang, wins the Daytona 500 on February 14, 2021. (Photo by David Rosenblum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Trackhouse Racing Team announced its collaboration with the Miami-born rapper back in January 2021.
The owner, Justin Marks, mentioned to FOX Business he sees it as more of a "marketing company," rather than just a "racing team." He said the partnership he has with Armando Perez, better known as Pitbull, made a lot of "business sense."
"[Pitbull’s] a NASCAR fan, truly a NASCAR fan… he'd been doing work with the sport and wanted to get more involved, so the connection sort of organically happened," Marks noted.
"We found a lot of synergies between… what our missions were."
Trackhouse has Daniel Suarez, the sport’s only full-time Mexican driver, behind the wheel in a flashy purple race car with the number 99 across the vehicle.
Things started to heat up for the major sports event, as Mr. Worldwide kicked off the month of February with a show-stopping performance at the first-ever NASCAR race hosted at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
Other celebrities, like Floyd Mayweather Jr., didn’t have an automatic spot with his NASCAR team, but was able to secure one last night. The boxing champion’s driver qualified with a move in the final lap and will be another celebrity fans will want to look out for on the tracks.
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The Daytona 500 kicks off Sunday, Feb. 20 at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.