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Amber Balcaen shared her experience having US President Donald Trump grace the Daytona 500. In an interview with OutKick (via Fox News), Balcaen said the scene at the renowned 2.5-mile track was unique and gave her chills.
Born in Canada, Balcaen is a 32-year-old professional racecar driver with a part-time ARCA Menards Series schedule with Nitro Motorsports. She entered the series' season-opener at the Daytona International Speedway but settled with a DNF.
Nevertheless, the Canadian driver had the experience of a lifetime seeing President Trump attend the 67th running of the Daytona 500.
"I’m Canadian, but I’ve never experienced anything like that. You could feel the energy, and even still talking about it, it gives me chills. It was really neat," she said.
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With the US president talking to the drivers through radio, Amber Balcaen could only imagine what the drivers felt in that moment, saying:
"I raced the day before, so I didn’t get to hear him over the radio, but I was listening, and I can’t even imagine how the drivers must have felt in that moment."
Donald Trump is the only sitting president to visit the Daytona 500 twice. George W. Bush was in attendance in the "Great American Race" once in 2004 when he brought his re-election campaign to the racetrack.
Like his first visit in 2020, US President Trump rode in "The Beast" around the oval track and led the field.
After the race, William Byron won for the second consecutive year, beating Tyler Reddick and Jimmie Johnson, respectively, to the line. He became the youngest two-time Daytona 500 champion at 27-years-old.
"Really unfortunate": Amber Balcaen on collecting other cars in early Daytona exit
Amber Balcaen explained that her No. 70 Toyota had a tire issue before getting loose out of turn two at Daytona and collecting Cleetus McFarland and Kyle Steckly. As a result, she exited the race early, with Brenden 'Butterbean' Queen later taking victory.
In a post-race interview, the Canadian driver said (via Noah Lewis on YouTube):
"Unfortunately, when we back green, we put new tires on, and we got a tire rub, I saw smoke when going into (turn) three and four, and then going into turn one, I got on the radio and said, 'Guys, we got a tire going down.' And unfortunately, before I could get into pit road, the tire went down and we were in the wall."
"Really unfortunate. I hate that other cars got involved. Everyone worked super hard to get here and really feel bad about that," she added.
On the same interview, Amber Balcaen shared that her team was still working on adding more races to her part-time ride with Nitro Motorsports this year.
Her 2025 ARCA Menards schedule comes on the heels of a full-time ride with Venturini Motorsports last year where she finished sixth in the standings. The Toyota pilot amassed seven top-10s, including a ninth-place finish at Daytona.
