NASCAR strategizes to shield Daytona 500 from potential Super Bowl schedule changes

NASCAR has been in talks with the NFL over a potential clash of schedules for the marquee events of the two sports leagues i.e. the Daytona 500 and the Super Bowl. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has teased the idea of moving the Super Bowl to the President's Day weekend, which happens to be when the Daytona 500 is held.

NASCAR senior vice president, Ben Kennedy recently came out and detailed the association's talks with the NFL over the same issue, and how the two have collaborated to make sure that the schedules don't clash with each other. The NASCAR senior VP said (via Racer):

“We’re keeping tabs on it, for sure, and having a lot of conversations with our partners, have a couple of conversations with the NFL as well. We’re going to be talking about next year’s date this weekend and (there are) not really any big changes, which I think is going to be helpful. But long term, it is something that we’re mindful of because we don’t want to go up against the Super Bowl.”

“We’ve talked about: do you go the weekend before? Do we keep it the weekend after? I think we lean toward the latter of trying to come out of the Super Bowl and go to the Daytona 500. So, we’ll stay close to them because it has an impact on this date.”

NFL: Super Bowl LIX-Caesars Superdome - Source: Imagn

A major concern for both the marquee events happening on the same day happens to be FOX, who is responsible for the broadcast of both NASCAR and the NFL. The 2025 Super Bowl match recorded 127.7 million viewers for the TV network where the Kansas City Chiefs played against the Philadelphia Eagles.

While the numbers for the Daytona aren't as significant as the Super Bowl, it still manages a place with 6 million viewers for the 2024 Daytona 500, despite the race being held on Monday following a postponement because of the inclement weather.

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Donald Trump reported to attend the 2025 NASCAR Daytona 500

Source: Imagn

Donald Trump attended the 2020 Daytona 500 as the President of the United States and was given the honor of becoming the Grand Marshall at the event, as he called the drivers and waved the green flag. The US President was present at the 2025 Super Bowl and has been reported to attend the 2025 Daytona 500.

Since the inception of the Daytona 500, the prestigious race has been held in the month of February. From 1971 to 2011, it was held on the President's Day weekend i.e. the third Sunday of the month of February. For over a decade, the race didn't take place on President's Day, but in 2022, was again shifted to President's Day.

As a result, the current schedule for the Daytona 500 is a week after the Super Bowl, which takes place on the second weekend of February month.