Tom Cruise is famous for completely immersing himself in roles and taking big risks with stunts, so it should come as no surprise that he’s keen to put his health on the line by competing in a NASCAR race to prepare for the upcoming sequel to Days of Thunder.

The Hollywood superstar is reprising his role as Cole Trickle (pictured below), the take-no-prisoners race driver who finds love with a doctor played by Nicole Kidman, overcomes a horror crash and wins the Daytona 500. Made in 1990, the original remains a classic film for petrolheads.

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Cruise, who has run down the outside of the world’s tallest building, dangled off the side of a plane in mid-air and ridden a motorbike off the side of a cliff for roles in flicks like the Mission: Impossible series, stunned NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell with his latest daredevil plan.

The 64-year-old has put his hand up to race in the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) stock car series, which is a semi-pro, developmental competition owned by NASCAR. The purpose-built ARCA racers look a lot like their NASCAR relatives, but are simpler and slower despite still making around 700 horsepower (520kW) from their V8 engines.

“I was shocked. We have an ARCA series, which is kind of our national touring series, and Tom wanted to go and race in one of those,” O’Donnell told Front Office Sports. “I’m not sure that’s going to happen, but he wants it to be as authentic as can be.” 

O’Donnell is right to be concerned. A quick look at ARCA races on YouTube will prove that they’re no less intense and dangerous than the NASCAR version, with plenty of prangs and highly aggressive driving, to put it mildly. Cruise can steer, as evidenced by his record-breaking hot lap on Top Gear,

NASCAR is working very closely with Cruise and the people behind the sequel, and O’Donnell also opened up about the Top Gun star’s take on the upcoming film and what the series is doing to make it as spectacular as possible.

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“I think if you look at the first one, it showcased what NASCAR was at the time and so in talking to Tom Cruise when he was at Daytona, it’s all about where we are today and going forward. So instead of a car being put together back in a garage, it’s embracing new technology and everything that goes into the sport,” O’Donnell said. 

“Tom’s message to us was, ‘I am going to put you in front of an entirely new audience, and you need to be ready’ … we’re probably going to be producing probably over 80 race cars that will be a part of this. Some we don’t expect to be back, that they’ll be wrecked as part of it.”

Cruise met his future wife Kidman on the set of the original Days of Thunder, which wasn’t a critics’ darling but absolutely riveted revheads across the glove and smashed it at the box office, taking in more than $220 million worldwide.