It looks like Cole Trickle is finally returning to the big screen. Days of Thunder was released a whopping 35 years ago, and it wasn’t the biggest commercial success despite being directed by the late Tony Scott, who was also behind the camera for the first Top Gun movie. The film grossed $157M globally, and even though it has a cult-like following in NASCAR circles, it didn’t necessarily gain the acclaim it was looking for. But now, a sequel is currently being written, and the anticipation is at an all-time high.
With F1: The Movie making waves on the big screen, director Joseph Kosinski has opened up about wanting to see a crossover that would see Sonny Hayes and Cole Trickle battle it out in a Days of Thunder sequel. And as you would have probably guessed, fans are abuzz on social media.
F1 director has an ambitious plan for Days of Thunder 2
“We’ll have something very exciting for the audience once we pull it together,” said Jerry Bruckheimer, sharing his thoughts on the Days of Thunder sequel. The movie producer has worked with Tom Cruise for years, having produced both the Top Gun films. He’s excited about the prospect of a new NASCAR-based movie, and when asked what he would do differently from the 1990 film, he said, “There’s always new technology. There are always new ways to do things, to see things. And Tom is such a great individual, comes up with phenomenal ideas.”
Turns out that Bruckheimer isn’t the only one excited to see Tom Cruise behind the wheel once again. F1 director Joseph Kosinski recently spoke to GQ Magazine UK and revealed his dream pitch, saying, “Well, right now, it’d be Cole Trickle, who was [Cruise’s] ‘Days of Thunder’ character, we find out that he and [Brad Pitt’s] Sonny Hayes have a past. They were rivals at some point, maybe crossed paths… I heard about this epic go-kart battle on ‘Interview With a Vampire’ that Brad and Tom had, and who wouldn’t pay to see those two go head-to-head on the track?”
Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt haven’t shared screen space since 1994’s horror classic ‘Interview With the Vampire,’ even though both actors are quite friendly. The 64-year-old even showed up for the F1 London premiere and posed for photos with Pitt, so it’s well within the realm of possibility that the two could feature in a Days of Thunder sequel. Brad Pitt is interested in the prospect too, but shared a few conditions, saying, “I’m not gonna hang my a-s off airplanes and s— like that.”
Jerry Bruckheimer Confirms a ‘Days of Thunder’ Sequel Is in the Works With Tom Cruise – @ETnow https://t.co/iGx29m0AfG
— Adam Stern (@A_S12) July 1, 2025
Rumors about a Days of Thunder sequel have been circulating for years. Hendrick Motorsports vice-president Jeff Gordon, who is friends with Tom Cruise, even confirmed that the movie is in the works, revealing, “I’ve known Tom [Cruise] for many years, and was on set this past year for Mission: Impossible, and then I went to the premiere. And the first words out of his mouth is, ‘We’re doing it. We’re doing Days of Thunder 2.’” Looks like it’s finally happening, and NASCAR fans couldn’t be more excited at the prospect.
NASCAR fans weigh in on Tom Cruise reprising his role as Cole Trickle
As expected, NASCAR fans couldn’t help but voice their opinions at the prospect of Days of Thunder 2 releasing in theatres. While the story is still being written, it didn’t stop motorsports enthusiasts on Reddit and X from jumping to conclusions, with one fan wanting the movie to be based in the present day, instead of being a throwback. He wrote, “Pls be a modern nascar movie and not some movie based on the 90s or early 2000s.”
Making a snarky comparison with the recently released Formula 1 movie starring 61-year-old Brad Pitt, a motorsports fan couldn’t help but write, “At least in a NASCAR movie a 60-year-old driver is somewhat realistic.” Well, that is true, as the oldest Cup Series driver is Morgan Shepherd, who retired from the highest level at the age of 72. Whereas the oldest F1 driver was Louis Chiron at 55 years and 292 days.
Another social media user begged the filmmakers to make Days of Thunder 2 realistic and consider Tom Cruise’s age, saying, “I’m begging anyone to listen. I don’t wanna see a 60 y/o man do something that would never happen irl.” Meanwhile, a fan couldn’t help but notice the timing of the Days of Thunder 2 announcement, and theorized that insiders within the stock car racing scene may have pushed for the interviews, saying, “NASCAR industry members got too jealous of F1”.
Ultimately, the likes of Jerry Bruckheimer and Joseph Kosinski are seasoned veterans who will only go ahead with Days of Thunder 2 if the story is compelling enough. But a NASCAR fan couldn’t help but weigh in, and he went on to write, “Hope they can draft up a decent plot. Doesn’t even need to be original, just needs to be well done. Maverick was a pretty cliche movie, and it still kicked absolute a–.”
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