It’s been 18 years since Tom Cruise posed as a racing car driver for Hollywood hit Days Of Thunder.
But the actor had no problems reprising the role to help kickstart pre-race celebrations at the Daytona 500 International Speedway.
But this time, Cruise painted a slightly different picture to the young hotshot he first portrayed, preferring instead to play the family man.

Cruise brought his father-in-law and adopted son Connor along for company as he got behind the wheel of the same vehicle used in the 1990 film.

Sporting a pair of sunglasses and leather jacket, the star appears to have aged well, looking younger than his 46 years.

There was no sign of ex-wife Nicole Kidman though, who he met on the set of the film and subsequently married. Kidman’s current husband however, country music star Keith Urban, attended the event to perform a surprise two-song set for reporters. Urban took brief questions from reporters and laughed awkwardly when asked what his favourite racing film was. “Uhhhhh … Cars?” he stammered, choosing the animated movie over the more obvious Days Of Thunder that featured his wife as Tom’s love interest.

Later, Urban and Cruise both attended the pre-race driver meeting. The two were seated on opposite ends, but Cruise heartily applauded Urban when the singer was introduced.

Cruise appeared in good spirits, despite his new film Valkyries being panned by critics.*

However, he could be set for a comeback as he is reportedly pairing up with Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington to star in The Matarese Circle, a spy thriller directed by David Cronenberg.

(Source: Mail Online)

*Note: Although the story says “Valkyrie was panned by critics”, the opposite is true: Valkyrie received a lot of praise and scored very well at the box office, despite major competition from block busters like “The curious case of Benjamin Button”, “Marley and Me” and others. Click here to read the most important reviews and here to see the box office numbers.

Pics of the whole event will be online soon!!