Has Taylor Swift ever attended a NASCAR race?

Before Taylor Swift rose to international fame and stardom, she sang the national anthem at a NASCAR Cup Series race in Arizona.

Chances are, you haven’t been able to successfully fulfill a Google search or spend more than 1.989 seconds scrolling on Facebook or any form of social media without seeing some kind of mention or (or ten thousandth reminder) of the fact that Taylor Swift attended the NFL game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Chicago Bears.

And all it took was a 41-10 beatdown of a glorified high school program known as the Bears for the go-to question for social media Chiefs ‘fans’ to go from “who was your quarterback before Patrick Mahomes?” to “can you name one player other than Travis Kelce”?

While she is not confirmed to be dating star tight end Travis Kelce, whose jersey sales have skyrocketed in the last week due to his introduction to the “Swifties”, there continue to be rumors.

Not only did she sit with his mother during the game, but she is said to be set to attend this Sunday night’s game at the New York Jets. Anonymous insider sources have confirmed that she isn’t going just to watch Zach Wilson throw for 82 yards (take the under) and three interceptions.

But on a much more serious note, due to her ongoing Eras Tour, Swift’s popularity has skyrocketed far beyond even what it already was, and even before “what it already was”, Swift was viewed as an up-and-coming musician during her early teenage years.

And Sunday’s Chiefs-Bears game was not the first time she has been in attendance at a major sporting event.

Billed as “one of country music’s top 10 recording artists of 2006”, Taylor Swift sang the national anthem ahead of a NASCAR Cup Series race.

That race, the 2006 Checker Auto Parts 500 presented by Pennzoil, was contested at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona.

Contested on Sunday, November 12, it was the 35th of 36 races on the 2006 schedule. The Cup Series was still known as the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series at the time, and the Wyomissing, Pennsylvania native was just 16 years old.

Shy of Kelce being named the honorary starter for next year’s spring race at Kansas Speedway, it’s unlikely that Swift will be returning to a NASCAR race anytime soon.

But if he is, surely it will be publicized ahead of time by every news outlet imaginable and the broadcast cameras will spend more than half the race panning to the tight end’s rumored girlfriend (if, by that time, she hasn’t yet written a No. 1 hit song about the breakup).