NASCAR: Did Pitbull hint at Cup Series ownership all along?

Pitbull was recently confirmed as a co-owner of the new Trackhouse Racing Team NASCAR Cup Series team, which are set to debut in the Daytona 500. Has he been hinting about entering the sport in this capacity for a while?

NASCAR is set to see multiple new teams competing full-time throughout the 2021 Cup Series season, and two of those teams — perhaps more as time moves on — are co-owned by celebrities.

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin announced in September that he and NBA legend Michael Jordan had partnered to form 23XI Racing, the team for which Bubba Wallace is set to drive the #23 Toyota throughout the upcoming 36-race campaign.

Then in October, former driver Justin Marks announced that he had formed Trackhouse Racing Team, the team for which Daniel Suarez is set to drive the #99 Chevrolet this season.

In mid-January, the team confirmed the addition of musical artist Pitbull as a co-owner.

I’ve been a fan of the NASCAR story since the movie ‘Days of Thunder’, now I’m an official co-owner of the Trackhouse…

Posted by Pitbull on Friday, January 15, 2021

Jordan, on multiple occasions, had insisted that Cup Series team ownership was not in his future.

But Hamlin was able to talk him into it when Wallace became available to sign, and there were various hints along the way indicating that he could make the big move.

Were those kinds of signs there for Pitbull as well?

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Looking back now, at the 2020 season in particular, it should surprise nobody that he took that next step in his NASCAR fandom just like Jordan did.

Pitbull, a longtime fan of the sport, kicked off Championship 4 weekend at Phoenix Raceway with his new uplifting song “I Believe That We Will Win”, part of his I Believe That We Will Win (World Anthem) album which was released in early 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Take a look.

Pitbull kicks off NASCAR weekend with "I Believe That We Will Win"

"I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN!"NASCAR championship weekend kicks off with Mr. Worldwide, Pitbull! #NASCAR #Championship4

Posted by NASCAR on NBC on Friday, November 6, 2020

He had previously been at Phoenix Raceway in March for race weekend as well, the final race weekend before the pandemic sent the sport into an unexpected 10-week hiatus, so he is by no means new to the stock car scene, and he made note of his intense fandom when announcing his new partnership with Marks.

So the arrival of another “Dale” to NASCAR may very well have been in the cards all along.