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Bubba Wallace takes Puka Nacua on ride along ahead of Daytona 500, snaps selfie with NFL star

Barkley-Truaxby: Barkley Truax02/15/26BarkleyTruax

Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua is making the most of his time as the at the Honorary Race Official at the 2026 Daytona 500. His day began in the most thrilling way possible: riding shotgun with Bubba Wallace for a few practice laps on Sunday morning.

Wallace snapped a selfie with Nacua before taking off for a five-lap practice run. He poked fun at the NFL star, saying he was “yelling his ass off the ENTIRE ride.” Video of the ride along was also captured below.

After the ride along was finished, Nacua could barely get a complete sentence out. The Los Angeles Rams WR joked that Wallace was more interested in his reactions than on the road.

Nacua is a Team Toyota Athlete, and has been a strong ambassador for the brand on and off the football field. While his Rams fell short of the Super Bowl, fans saw Nacua in Toyota’s “Where Dreams Began,” commercial during the big game.

Now, he’s enjoying his time at Daytona with a couple of practice laps from Wallace, who drives the No. 23 Toyota Camry for Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin’s racing team, 23XI Racing. That won’t be all that Nacua gets to experience on Sunday, however.

On Saturday, Daytona International Speedway announced that Nacua is set for NASCAR’s ‘Speed Seat Thrill Ride’ with Kurt Busch ahead of the Daytona 500. He’ll get to take a lap with the Hall of Famer ahead of the drop of the green flag.

“As a kid, we all craved that adrenaline rush of ripping a stock car around the World Center of Racing,” NASCAR Vice President, Signature Experience Group Michael Verlatti said via Jayski. “We’ve witnessed Puka’s incredible speed on the football field, and now we’re going to see how that compares to being a passenger in a stock car on the high banks at the World Center of Speed.”

In an attempt to beat the weather expected in the are on Sunday, NASCAR has gone ahead with changing the Daytona 500’s start time. Now, the start time for The Great American Race will be moved up an hour to 1:30 p.m., with the green flag set to wave at 2:13 p.m. ET.