What even is Daytona? Mind thread.

This is a very unusual question. To give context, there are the Daytona USA games that Sega made. I haven't gotten any hands on experience with the games yet, but I know them as the fun NASCAR-ish game that I know from connections outbound from Sega Rally. What confuses me is why the Daytona name needs to even be a part of the game. Now I don't know much about the real world track Daytona or anything associated with the brand, but the game seems almost entirely original besides just the name. Wouldn't that make it harder to get future games released because of licensing? Does Daytona even own any of the assets and tracks used in Daytona USA or is that all Sega? If I rephrase the question to fit with the question in my head, it's more like "What is Daytona USA besides the name?"

Now I don't actually plan to do research on the track Daytona nor Daytona USA and other details. That's mainly because I don't really care all that much about either of them. However, I have asked myself and others similar questions before so instead of repeating history I decided to write it down. It would expose you and other readers these questions which might lead to people with my questions to find answers for themselves. Also, I'm not entitled to be told the answers if you know them or have found them so don't feel like you necessarily need to waste your time on me.

I should probably do more stuff like this if more unanswered mind threads come up. There have been threads that have been unanswered and my blog seems like a good place to put them to rest so I can stop thinking about stupid crap that I won't answer as much.