Tom Cruise on Days of Thunder 2: 'The speed, the excitement and all that danger'

Dubai: Tom Cruise did not simply announce his return to NASCAR. He stood up in front of 40 race-car drivers, jumped over a row of potted plants and landed directly on a stage. The stunt, fittingly, was the first of many to come.

The 64-year-old confirmed on Saturday that he will reprise his role as NASCAR driver Cole Trickle in a follow-up to Days of Thunder, waving the green flag on the project hours before the Cup Series' regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway and then turning up for the pre-race drivers' meeting.

'It's not just about racing'

Cruise made his pitch to a packed room of NASCAR executives, fans, corporate sponsors and military personnel, and framed the film as something bigger than the sport itself.

"It's not just about racing," he said. "It's about the community and the people here. There's something very special about racers and the whole community. It's a culture, and I was very proud to be able to reflect that in the first Days of Thunder, and I am honored to share it with the world."

That, he explained, is the target for the sequel. "Give the audience that opportunity to understand what it is as a team, as a community, what it is for NASCAR, and the speed, the excitement and all that danger and stuff."

Who else is on board

Anne Hathaway will co-star as a team owner and engineer. Paramount Pictures has scheduled the film for release on 2 June 2028.

Cruise serves as producer alongside Jerry Bruckheimer and Tommy Harper, with Jonathan Levine directing a script written by Will Staples. Bruckheimer, Harper and Staples joined Cruise at the drivers' meeting.

True to form, Cruise posed for photos with anyone who asked and shook hands with military members before being whisked away in a black SUV. He was expected to spend part of the race on pit road, about as close to the action as possible without being behind the wheel himself.

From critical flop to cult classic

The road to a sequel has been a long one. The Hollywood Reporter first reported in November 2024 that Cruise had spoken to Paramount about revisiting his 1990 racing film.

The original was a critically panned summer blockbuster, widely lampooned within the NASCAR industry for its exaggeration and overindulgence. In the decades since, it has become a cult favourite in racing circles and is still quoted by fans today. Crew chief Harry Hogge's immortal line, delivered by Robert Duvall, lives on: "Rubbin', son, is racin'."

Riding high on his Top Gun fame and having grown up racing on the back streets of Kentucky, Cruise had an idea for a movie about fast cars and the characters who drove them. Cole Trickle was loosely based on the late NASCAR driver Tim Richmond. The film introduced stock-car racing to a mainstream audience that had little exposure to it before that summer.

A tricky track record, and a friend in high places

NASCAR has not fared well on screen since. For every Talladega Nights, there have been a string of misfires, including Kevin James's ill-fated Netflix comedy series The Crew. Cruise, who handled many of his own stunts in the original, is a safer bet than most.

He also has a notable ally. Four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon, now vice chairman at Hendrick Motorsports, openly lobbied for the sequel. Gordon and Cruise have become friends over the years, with Cruise attending a 2015 NASCAR banquet to honour Gordon's retirement, which could boost the prospect of Hendrick Motorsports' involvement.

The Daytona fire he still remembers

Asked about his last visit to the track, Cruise recalled a stunt that went further than planned.

"Last time I was at this track, I was on the backstraight and I was shooting with two very heavy cameras traveling, I don't know, 180 miles an hour, and suddenly the hood was off of the car," he said. "The sun is setting and I'm trying to get all my lines out before we lost the light. And, suddenly, the whole car was in flames. It turned from a barbecue to a bonfire on the backstraight."

The punchline was that nobody could reach him. "Couldn't even get the crew to come in and help me just because radio communications didn't work in the backstraight. I hear that's still possible, correct? You guys didn't fix that. Well, that's good."

Days of Thunder 2 races into cinemas on 2 June 2028.