Crowd Erupts As Riley Gaines Mentions Donald Trump At Pre-Race Invocation At NASCAR Race In Texas: Watch

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Riley Gaines, host of OutKick's ‘Gaines For Girls’ podcast, had the privilege of delivering the pre-race invocation at the Circuit of the Americas ahead of Sunday's EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. 

Sage Steele, who Gaines considers to be a role model of hers, delivered the pre-race invocation at the same race in 2023.

Gaines, a devout Christian, was recently on-hand at the White House to see President Donald Trump sign an executive order to keep biological males from competing against the opposite sex.

READ: Riley Gaines, Pro-Women Advocates Call Out Loophole In The NCAA Transgender Policy In Powerful New Ad

The former Kentucky swimmer forced to compete against transgender athlete Lia Thomas spoke about what an honor it was to deliver the pre-race invocation in Austin.

"It's a surreal honor to deliver the pre-race invocation for Sunday's race at Circuit of the Americas," Gaines explained. I’m looking forward to an exciting day of racing and the way this sport brings people together with passion and love for our country."

Gaines' invitation to deliver the invocation signals that NASCAR may very well be realizing, or at least remembering, that the sport has the most conservative fanbase of all. President Trump was in attendance for the Daytona 500 a couple of weeks back, and the broadcast nor NASCAR as a whole, shied away from his appearance.

Leaning into their traditionally conservative fanbase and those interests seems like a simple yet very wise move by NASCAR as a new season gets underway.

Sunday's race in Austin will be 228 miles, with William Byron as the defending champion.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets, including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016, when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.