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2012 Daytona 500: Mitt Romney To Attend Race

The Daytona Beach-News Journal is reporting that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will be attending this year's race as a VIP.

This will be the second consecutive year that Romney will make a stop at Daytona International Speedway, as he met with both drivers and NASCAR officials at the pre-race drivers' meeting last year.

Romney was scheduled to have a fundraiser Friday night hosted by International Speedway Corp. CEO Lesa France Kennedy, but cancelled in order to campaign more in the state of Michigan.

According to SB Nation Reporter Jeff Gluck, Romney is far from the first Republican politician to attend the Daytona 500. Sarah Palin attended in 2010, while George W. Bush kicked off his re-election campaign by being Grand Marshal of the 2004 race.

It certainly makes sense for Romney to do this, as NASCAR is a sport that is very popular in the south, which also happens to be a predominantly Republican part of the country.

For more coverage leading up to the race, check out SB Nation Tampa Bay.

Photographs by cstreet.us, thelastminute, turtlemom nancy , fesek, kthypryn, justinwright, sue_elias, pointnshoot, and scrapstothefuture used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.