Daytona International Speedway has found its headliner for next year's Great American Race. Thomas Rhett will take the stage for the 2027 Daytona 500 pre-race concert on Sunday, February 21, setting the tone before the NASCAR Cup Series field roars onto the high banks for the 69th running of the event.
The speedway made the announcement, which was reported by Jayski, confirming that the country star will get fans and drivers alike fired up ahead of the green flag. Per the same report, Rhett has racked up an eye-popping 22 billion streams across his catalog and took home the Academy of Country Music's Entertainer of the Year award in 2020.
Daytona International Speedway President Frank Kelleher framed the booking as a natural fit for the race's pre-show tradition. “Thomas Rhett brings tremendous energy to the stage, and we couldn't be more excited to have him help build that momentum,” Kelleher said, according to the speedway's news release cited by Jayski.
A Tradition of Big Country Names at the Beach
Rhett joins a growing list of country heavyweights who've opened the Daytona 500 in recent years. Miranda Lambert performed the pre-race concert ahead of the 68th running earlier in 2026, with Kelleher saying at the time that her set “adds an incredible amount of energy” to the event, according to the same Jayski report covering that announcement.
Before that, Luke Combs headlined the pre-race show for the 63rd Daytona 500 in 2021, a race held in front of limited spectators because of the pandemic, as The Coastland Times reported. Then-track president Chip Wile praised the format's staying power that year, saying, “The tradition of the Daytona 500 pre-race show has been an incredibly popular hit with race fans.”
Setting Up The Great American Race
The 2027 Daytona 500 and its pre-race concert both land on February 21, kicking off the NASCAR Cup Series season at the Florida superspeedway. As the Daytona Beach News-Journal notes, the race marks the 69th running of The Great American Race, continuing a decades-long rite of passage for drivers and fans who flock to the track every February.
Rhett's booking adds another marquee name to that lineage, following performers who have used the slot to send a packed house into the Daytona 500 with the crowd already buzzing. Fans will get their first look at how the country star fills that role when the lights come up on pit road in February.
