NASCAR and Mario Kart in surprise linkup as stars reveal GO-TO characters

With 2025 now upon us, it is only a matter of weeks until the new Cup Series campaign gets underway.

Kicking off with the NASCAR Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium on Sunday, 2nd February, the regular season is set to run right through until Saturday, August 23rd, and the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

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From thereon in, the playoffs will begin, with nine playoff events before the championship four concludes the season at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday, November 2nd.

It is still weeks until the action unfolds, however, and in the meantime, NASCAR have been sharing various clips on their social media channels to build the excitement.

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NASCAR stars reveal go-to Mario Kart characters

Bizarrely, one of these clips posted saw drivers and people around the paddock quizzed on which Mario Kart characters were there go to.

The drivers indulged, however, with some characters naturally proving more popular than others, with some interesting explanations offered along the way.

"Oooh, go to Mario Kart character, I'm going to go with Luigi," Joe Gibbs Racing star Denny Hamlin replied.

Team Penske's Ryan Blaney opted for a different choice, however, revealing: "I like being [Princess] Peach,"

"Nintendo 64 Mario Kart, it doesn't matter who I am, I'm gonna stomp ya..."

Elsewhere, Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson replied: "I haven't played Mario Kart in years, but I guess it used to be Toad."

Toad proved a surprisingly popular choice, with the character having also been selected by the likes of William Byron, Chris Buescher, and Carson Hocevar, among others.

Naturally, Mario himself, and various versions of him, proved popular, as did Yoshi and Bowser.

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