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DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA – AUGUST 29: Tom Cruise attends the drivers meeting prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on August 29, 2026 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Tom Cruise returned to the NASCAR world<\/a> at Daytona International Speedway over the weekend, but one of the actor\u2019s most memorable moments had nothing to do with the movie that brought him there.<\/p>\n Cruise attended the NASCAR Cup Series drivers meeting ahead of Saturday night\u2019s Coke Zero Sugar 400, where he announced that a sequel to his 1990 racing film, \u201cDays of Thunder<\/a>,\u201d is in development.<\/p>\n But as Cruise took his seat, he found an unmistakable reminder of the man NASCAR is still mourning.<\/p>\n An empty chair beside him had been reserved in honor of the late Kyle Busch<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n Cruise was photographed reaching over and placing his hand on the chair bearing Busch\u2019s name, quietly acknowledging the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion more than three months after his death.<\/p>\n It was a simple gesture, but an emotional one in a NASCAR season that has been filled with reminders of Busch\u2019s enormous impact on the sport.<\/p>\n Tom Cruise Pays Tribute to Kyle Busch at Daytona<\/p>\n Cruise was seated directly beside the chair reserved for Busch during the drivers meeting at Daytona.<\/p>\n Rather than simply taking his place, the Hollywood star turned toward the empty seat and reached down to touch it.<\/p>\n Tom Cruise took a moment to recognize the empty chair next to him at the drivers meeting, a tribute to NASCAR legend Kyle Busch. \u2764\ufe0f <\/p>\n The moment carried particular weight given the reason Cruise was at the track in the first place.<\/p>\n More than three decades after \u201cDays of Thunder\u201d brought a fictionalized version of NASCAR to movie theaters, Cruise returned to the garage as plans for a sequel begin to take shape. The original film followed Cruise as driver Cole Trickle and became one of the most recognizable racing movies ever made.<\/p>\n This time, however, the real-life story surrounding Cruise\u2019s NASCAR appearance extended far beyond Hollywood.<\/p>\n Busch died in May at age 41 after bacterial pneumonia led to sepsis, sending shockwaves through NASCAR and leaving the sport without one of the defining drivers of his generation.<\/p>\n Since then, tributes to the former Cup champion have continued at tracks across the country.<\/p>\n The empty chair at Daytona provided another one.<\/p>\n And with Cruise seated beside it, the tribute produced an especially poignant image: one of Hollywood\u2019s biggest stars returning to NASCAR while making sure Busch\u2019s absence did not go unacknowledged.<\/p>\n NASCAR Continues to Honor Kyle Busch<\/p>\n Busch\u2019s death has remained deeply felt throughout the NASCAR community.<\/p>\n His widow, Samantha Busch<\/a>, has continued to honor her late husband while caring for the couple\u2019s two children, Brexton and Lennix. Busch\u2019s older brother, former NASCAR Cup Series champion Kurt Busch, has also been among the family members carrying on his legacy.<\/p>\n The tributes have extended well beyond Busch\u2019s immediate family.<\/p>\n Drivers, teams, tracks and others throughout NASCAR have found their own ways to remember the driver known as \u201cRowdy,\u201d whose career included two Cup Series championships and victories across all three NASCAR national series.<\/p>\n Cruise\u2019s gesture at Daytona became the latest.<\/p>\n There was no lengthy speech attached to it and no elaborate production surrounding the moment. Instead, Cruise simply reached toward the empty chair next to him and acknowledged the driver who should have been there.<\/p>\n On a weekend when Cruise arrived with major news about the future of one of racing\u2019s most famous movies, that quiet moment told a much different story.<\/p>\n NASCAR<\/a> is moving forward. But Kyle Busch is still very much being remembered along the way.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMaggie MacKenzie<\/a> Maggie MacKenzie covers NASCAR for Heavy.com. She previously worked for NASCAR.com, where she reported, wrote, and edited race-weekend coverage and traveled to key events throughout the season. She has more than ten years of experience in sports media and is based in Boston, Massachusetts. More about Maggie MacKenzie<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA – AUGUST 29: Tom Cruise attends the drivers meeting prior to the NASCAR Cup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":877477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-877476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=877476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/877477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=877476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=877476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=877476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2292624931-e1788119899142.jpg\")
GettyTom Cruise recognizes the empty chair, tribute to the late Kyle Busch during the drivers meeting prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on August 29, 2026 in Daytona Beach, Florida.\n<\/p>\n