- In February 2020, Donald and Melania Trump attended the Daytona 500 as president and first lady.
- The 2025 Daytona 500 grand marshal was actor Anthony Mackie, star of “Captain America: Brave New World.”
Five years after serving as grand marshal, President Donald Trump returned to the Daytona 500 in Florida — his second appearance there as commander-in-chief.
It was a moment he shared with his family and inner circle — well, most of the Trump family.
First lady Melania Trump, who has attended the Daytona 500 in the past, did not accompany her husband on Sunday, Feb. 16, to the signature NASCAR event. She also did not appear with the Trump family at Super Bowl LIX last week in New Orleans, Louisiana. Neither did their only child, 18-year-old Barron Trump.
Here’s a list of the people in Trump’s inner circle who attended the Great American Race aka the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Where is Trump? Did Trump return to Mar-a-Lago in Florida? Was he at 2025 Daytona 500 in Daytona Beach?
President Donald Trump arrived at 5:17 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day, in Palm Beach County, Florida, for what is scheduled to be a six-day Presidents’ Day weekend visit sandwiched by an excursion to the Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 16. Donald Trump is scheduled to cap the stay at a Tuesday, Feb. 18, gala at his private club, Mar-a-Lago, hosted by America’s Future, a group chaired by former national security adviser Mike Flynn.
Donald Trump stepped off Air Force One on Friday with Howard Lutnick, the Commerce Secretary nominee, and Sergio Gor, whom Trump named to the board of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.
In his first term, Donald Trump returned to Palm Beach each Super Bowl and Presidents Day’ weekend. His appearance at the Daytona 500 was his first since 2020, when he served as the grand marshal of the 62nd annual NASCAR race. First Lady Melania Trump attended the 2020 Daytona 500, too.
Was First Lady Melania Trump at Daytona 500 2025 in Daytona Beach, Florida?
No, First Lady Melania Trump did not attend the 67th annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, nor did she attend Super Bowl LIX (aka Super Bowl 59 or Super Bowl 2025) in New Orleans, Louisiana, with her husband, President Donald Trump.
Was Donald Trump Jr. at Super Bowl LIX in Daytona Beach, Florida, for the Daytona 500? Did Kimberly Guilfoyle, former fiancee, and Bettina Anderson, his new girlfriend, attend?
Donald Trump Jr., eldest son of Donald Trump and the late Ivana Trump, did not attend the 2025 Daytona 500. Nor did his girlfriend, Bettina Anderson.
The pair did attend Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025, the day they became “Instagram official.” He shared video of the Caesars Superdome stadium field before the start of the Philadelphia Eagles-Kansas City Chiefs game as an Instagram Story and Instagram Reel to his 8.8 million followers. After he briefly livestreamed the Super Bowl Half-time show, Donald Trump Jr. posted photos on Instagram of three of his five children with ex-wife Vanessa Trump: Donald Trump III, Spencer Frederick Trump and Chloe Sofia Trump. The Instagram Live and some of the Instagram photos feature Donald Trump Jr.’s model girlfriend, the Palm Beach, Florida, socialite Anderson.
Donald Trump Jr.’s photos of Anderson and his children on his social feed marks the first time the president’s son has posted about his romantic relationship with her — a phenomenon called “Instagram official.” The couple has attended high-profile events such as Donald and Melania Trump’s New Year’s Eve 2024 party at Mar-a-Lago or Inauguration Day festivities in Washington, D.C., but his Super Bowl Sunday photos with Anderson and his children in the Trump VIP box are the first he has publicly posted.
Kimberly Guilfoyle, former fiancee of Donald Trump Jr. and a member of Donald Trump’s inner circle attended the Super Bowl, but it wasn’t known whether she attended the NASCAR race in Daytona. Guilfoyle, who dated Donald Trump Jr. for six years before their breakup in 2024, shared photos of Donald Trump at the Daytona 500 on her Instagram profile.
Guilfoyle and Donald Trump Jr. lived together in the exclusive Admiral’s Cove neighborhood in Jupiter, Florida. News reports suggest the couple split in 2024. Photos surfaced online in December 2024 of Donald Trump Jr. kissing and holding hands with model socialite Bettina Anderson of Palm Beach, Florida. Guilfoyle was appointed her ambassadorship days after the Bettina Anderson-Donald Trump Jr. photos were published on tabloid sites.
Was Ivanka Trump at 2025 Daytona 500 in Florida?
Donald Trump’s oldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, did not attend the 2025 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.
Ivanka Trump did attend Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans and stood next to her father in the VIP box, posting about her trip via Instagram Story and her Instagram feed. She gave her 8.2 million followers a peek of her window-seat view (with a prompt to turn the sound up) aboard Air Force One. A former senior adviser to Donald Trump during his first term in office, from 2017 to 2021, Ivanka Trump, who’s married to Jared Kushner, brought their youngest son, Theodore James Kushner, to the Super Bowl.
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are parents to three children, Arabella Rose Kushner, Joseph Frederick Kushner and Theodore James Kushner.
Was Eric Trump at 2025 Daytona 500 in Florida? Who was the little girl with Trump on Daytona Beach racetrack?
Yes. Eric Trump, youngest child of Donald Trump and the late Ivana Trump, attended the 67th annual Daytona 500 in Daytona Beach, Florida. With him were his wife, Lara Trump, former chair of the Republican National Convention, and their two children, Luke Trump and Carolina Trump. Carolina stood on the racetrack with her famous grandfather.
Eric and Lara Trump also attended Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans on Feb. 9, 2025, along with his father, his sister Ivanka Trump and her son Theo Kushner, and brother Donald Trump Jr. with three of his children and girlfriend Bettina Anderson.
Did Tiffany Trump attend 2025 Daytona 500 in Florida?
Tiffany Trump, daughter of Donald Trump and model Marla Maples, did not attend the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, on Feb. 16, 2025, or Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Feb. 9, 2025. Tiffany Trump and her husband, businessman Michael Boulos, are expecting their first child. The couple’s last public appearance at a Trump family event was on Inauguration Day, when her father was sworn in as the 47th president of the U.S.
Was Barron Trump at 2025 Daytona 500 in Florida?
Barron Trump, sole child of Donald and Melania Trump, was not at Caesars Superdome stadium in New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025, and he was not at the 2025 Daytona 500 in Daytona Beach, Florida. The 18-year-old, 6-foot-9-inch-tall Barron Trump, a freshman at New York University’s Stern School of Business, last made a public appearance when his father was sworn in at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., for Inauguration Day (Jan. 20, 2025).
Contributing: Antonio Fins, Palm Beach Post
Sangalang is a lead digital producer for USA TODAY Network. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram at @byjensangalang. Support local journalism. Consider subscribing to a Florida newspaper.
