Wilson headlines pre-race festivities before NASCAR Cup Series regular season finale
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 17, 2025) – Daytona International Speedway announced today that GRAMMY award winning country music singer and songwriter Gretchen Wilson will perform prior to the Coke Zero Sugar 400 this August. Wilson adds to pre-race festivities as NASCAR Cup Series drivers prepare to battle under the lights at DAYTONA.
“There’s nothing like the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at DAYTONA – it’s high-stakes, under the lights, and one of the most electric nights in all of NASCAR,” said Frank Kelleher, President of Daytona International Speedway. “We’re fired up to have Gretchen Wilson join us and bring her powerhouse voice to our pre-race stage. Her energy, her hits, and her presence are the perfect way to fire up the crowd before the green flag drops on the regular season finale. It’s going to be an unforgettable night at The World Center of Racing.”
Last August, Harrison Burton shuffled up the Playoff picture as he earned his first career Cup Series victory and the historic Wood Brothers Racing team’s 100th career Cup Series victory. Burton’s victory came by a margin of just .047 seconds over Kyle Busch in his 98th Cup Series start. This also served as the first win for Wood Brothers Racing since Ryan Blaney’s win at Pocono in 2017. With the final playoff spots up for grabs and the unpredictability of superspeedway racing, drivers are looking for their “win and you’re in” moment as anything can happen at DAYTONA.
“I’ve been a NASCAR fan ever since I was a kid pulling mud out of the wheel well of my uncle’s dirt track racer with a two-by-four,” said Wilson. “There’s nothing more exciting than feeling all of that horsepower at the start of the race, and there’s no better place for that than Daytona.”
Wilson’s debuted in the country music scene in 2004 with “Redneck Woman” which would go on to win a GRAMMY and serve as a No. 1 hit on the Billboard country charts. The song was also the first number one country hit by a female in two years. The success of the song prompted an earlier release for the album Here for the Party which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard country chart.
In 2005, Wilson released her second studio album, All Jacked Up which peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 and country charts and sold 1 million copies. The title track would debut at No. 21 on the Hot Country Songs charts which set a record for the highest debut ever made by a female artist. Wilson has released five other albums over the years including One of the Boys, I Got Your Country Right Here, Right on Time, Under the Covers and Ready to Get Rowdy. Wilson’s first Christmas album, Christmas in My Heart, in 2013.
Wilson has accumulated numerous awards throughout her career. She received awards in 2004 for the ACM Top Female Vocalist, ACM Top New Artist and CMA Horizon Award. This was followed by her 2005 CMA Female Vocalist of the Year win. Wilson has been nominated for an astonishing 11 GRAMMY awards throughout her career.
The Coke Zero Sugar 400 race weekend returns Aug. 22-23, where those in attendance can witness all the intensity of superspeedway racing at DAYTONA. On Friday, the NASCAR Xfinity Series will take on the high banks of DAYTONA in the Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola. The NASCAR Cup Series stars will have their last chance to fight for a playoff spot in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on Saturday in the regular season finale.
For more details or to purchase tickets to the Coke Zero Sugar 400 race weekend, please visit www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com. Fans can also purchase an exclusive pre-race ticket package for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 with a reserved seat, admission to the Hard Rock Bet Fanzone, and pre-race access for Gretchen Wilson’s pre-race concert.
About Daytona International Speedway
Daytona International Speedway is a state-of-the-art motorsports facility and was awarded the SportsBusiness Journal’s prestigious Sports Business Award for Sports Facility of the Year in 2016. Daytona International Speedway is the home of The Great American Race – the DAYTONA 500. Though the season-opening NASCAR Cup Series event garners most of the attention – as well as the largest audience in motorsports – the approximately 500-acre motorsports complex, also known as the World Center of Racing, boasts the most diverse schedule of racing on the globe. Some of the exciting racing events include January’s Rolex 24 At DAYTONA and Roar Before The Rolex 24, February’s DAYTONA 500 and Speedweeks Presented by AdventHealth, March’s Bike Week At DAYTONA Presented By GEICO, featuring DAYTONA Supercross and the DAYTONA 200, the August Coke Zero Sugar 400 weekend, and much more. The Speedway grounds are also used extensively for other events that include concerts (Welcome to Rockville, Heroes Honor Festival, etc.), sporting events (DAYTONA Soccer Fest, CLASH DAYTONA, etc.) civic and social gatherings, car shows, photo shoots, production vehicle testing and police motorcycle training.
About NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for the No. 1 form of motorsports in the United States and owner of 14 of the nation’s major motorsports entertainment facilities. NASCAR sanctions races in three national series (NASCAR Cup Series™, NASCAR Xfinity Series™, and NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series™), four international series (NASCAR Brasil Series, NASCAR Canada Series, NASCAR Euro Series, NASCAR Mexico Series), four regional series (ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series East & West and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour) and a local grassroots series (NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series). The International Motor Sports Association™ (IMSA®) governs the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship™, the premier U.S. sports car series. NASCAR also owns Motor Racing Network, Racing Electronics, and ONE DAYTONA. Based in Daytona Beach, Florida, with offices in five cities across North America, NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races annually in 11 countries and more than 30 U.S. states.
For more information visit www.NASCAR.com and www.IMSA.com, and follow NASCAR on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, X and Facebook.
About Gretchen Wilson
To all appearances, Gretchen Wilson went from talented obscurity to phenomenon almost overnight. Her meteoric rise, the kind experienced by only a handful of artists in the past few decades, was that rare instance where talent and moment met to form a cultural tidal wave. Her first single, “Redneck Woman,” spent six weeks at #1 in 2004. Her debut album, Here For The Party, sold more than five million copies and spawned three more top 5 hits including “Homewrecker,” “When I Think About Cheatin’,” and the title track, “Here For The Party.” Her second CD, All Jacked Up, saw four more songs ride enthusiastic reviews to platinum status, and her third record, One of the Boys, solidified her position as one of contemporary music’s most original and multi-faceted female artists. Since her debut, she has been featured on “60 Minutes,” “Dateline NBC,” “20/20 Primetime,” CNN’s “People In The News,” and she has appeared on virtually every morning, noon and late-night television show on the air. She has won awards from ACM, CMA, AMA, Billboard, and is a GRAMMY winner. Her first book, the autobiographical “Redneck Woman: Stories from My Life,” landed her on the prestigious New York Times Best Seller List. After much soul-searching, prayer and consultation, Gretchen left her original label home and launched her own label Redneck Records in 2009. She has released six albums on the label. She joined her buddies Big & Rich and Cowboy Troy for the 20th Anniversary Celebration Tour earlier this year and released a new single, “Little Miss RunnerUp.” She hit the road early 2025 for her own headline tour.
