NASCAR’s weekend at the Daytona International Speedway was already going to be a huge one. It was the final race to make the Chase for both the Cup Series and the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. With a new rules package in play for the Cup field, there was an added element of excitement.
When the dust settled, NASCAR saw first-time winners in both Friday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race and Saturday’s Cup Series event. Ryan Sieg notched his first NOAPS victory in his 424th start, while Ryan Preece earned his first Cup win in his 249th attempt.
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For Preece, it bumped him into the Chase and knocked SVG out, despite facing a 31-point deficit going into the 160-lap event. It was a thrilling weekend of racing on the track, but there was one thing that happened off-track prior to Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 that stole the headlines.
“Days of Thunder,” the hit 1990 NASCAR movie starring Tom Cruise, is releasing a sequel in summer 2028. The blockbuster movie announcement is a continuation of NASCAR’s push to get on the big screen.
NASCAR’s recent projects prior to ‘Days of Thunder’ sequel
NASCAR has had its hands in various big-screen projects over the last few years. The key piece that kicked it off was “NASCAR: Full Speed,” a Netflix docuseries that ran for two seasons highlighting the 2023 and 2024 NASCAR playoffs.
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In the first season, the documentary features top Cup Series drivers including Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and others. The docuseries broke down how the NASCAR playoffs work and gave a week-to-week, behind-the-scenes look of the drivers through the 10-week playoff stretch.
“NASCAR: Full Speed” returned in 2024 and featured Joey Logano, Blaney, Byron, Tyler Reddick and more of the sport’s top stars.
In collaboration with Prime Video, NASCAR released “Full Speed: Daytona 500,” a documentary that took an inside look at this year’s “Great American Race.” Prime Video also created a documentary highlighted two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Larson’s Indy 500/Coca-Cola 600 “Double” attempt from 2025.
Ahead of this year’s inaugural Cup race at Naval Base Coronado, NASCAR put together a mini film called “The San Diego Mini Movie: NASCAR vs Navy.” The YouTube production features Cup Series drivers Ryan Blaney, Carson Hocevar, Connor Zilisch and others.
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With the announcement of the “Days of Thunder” sequel, NASCAR continues to highlight the sport on the big screen.
Details of ‘Days of Thunder’ sequel for summer 2028
With the collaboration of Paramount Pictures, “Days of Thunder” is getting a sequel. The movie stars Tom Cruise, who will be back in his role as Cole Trickle from the original movie. Joining Cruise in the sequel is Anne Hathaway, who is reportedly going to play a race team owner in the film.
The announcement came prior to Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona. Cruise broke the news with a picture of himself and Hathaway standing alongside the iconic green and yellow No. 46 car from the original movie.
On the side of the car reads “summer 2028” as an indication of when the sequel will be released.
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