Aaron Plessinger had an amazing Monster Energy AMA Supercross season in 2024. He was on the podium multiple times and got his first ever 450SX win in San Diego. He then placed third in the AMA Pro Motocross Championship last year and rode for team USA at Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations. Fans expected him to be able to carry that same momentum into 2025, however, the start of this season, by comparison, has been abysmal.
That all changed this past weekend in Daytona. In his heat race, he didn’t have the best start but was able to avoid the carnage up front when his teammate Chase Sexton and Justin Barcia went down. He was able to work his way up to third by the end of the first lap and logged the fastest time of the heat as he chased down leader, Malcolm Stewart, and came up just short at the finish.
His confidence from his heat race carried him to a good start in the main, where he started third and then made quick work of Cooper Webb for second. From there he set his sights on Jason Anderson in first and led his first laps (four of them) of the 2025 season. Eventually Ken Roczen, Webb and Sexton all went by, but Plessinger was able to stay close enough to Sexton to take advantage when Chase had troubles later in the race. In the post-race press conference Aaron explained how great it felt to be back on the podium:
“To be honest, I’ve had really bad luck," he said. "I was sick, I mean I know everybody was sick. I just had unfortunate circumstances that kept me in the back. I just got a good start and was able to execute. That’s what I haven’t been doing is executing, the last couple of starts I’ve had in the mains have been really good but I just kind of fell back. This week I just felt good, I felt a little different and I haven’t really changed too, too much on the bike and I don’t know, I just felt good tonight.”
Aaron Plessinger has always been a fan favorite, maybe it is his big personality and his ability to relate to his fans. Like how he donned a Dale Earnhardt shirt over his jersey on the podium.
“I don’t know, coming here just reminds me of him [Dale Earnhardt] I guess," Plessinger said. "Speedway tracks just have a different vibe and every time we come to one of them, I feel kind of a Dale vibe. It’s just in the heart I guess.”
He continued on about how amazing the fans are at Daytona International Speedway: “I feel like any time anyone made a pass out there it was so loud. That’s one thing about here, it gets crazy. Even though the fans are spread out, you always hear them. They get super, super loud here and that’s one thing I love about here.”
Daytona brings a mixed bag of emotions for Plessinger as this was the race he crashed and injured his heel, just one week after his best finish of fifth place in his rookie 450 season.
“Yeah, my rookie year in ’19 I shattered my heel here," Plessinger said. "That kind of ruined that year for me, but to come back the next year, I think I had one of my best finishes of the year here, and then the year after that I had my first 450 podium. So, to rebound like that is pretty cool, and it went from my least favorite to one of my favorite places to race. So, it is pretty cool that I can rebound like that.”
Plessinger has clawed his way back from adversity before. He showed in Daytona that he still has the speed to run up front. So, will we see more of the #7 on the podium this year? Fans everywhere are hoping yes.
