The recently retired Dale Earnhardt Jr. will not race in the 2018 Daytona 500, but come next February, he will still play a prominent role in starting NASCAR’s signature event.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. named grand marshal for 2018 Daytona 500
The recently retired driver will give the command for the field to fire their engines prior to the start of the season-opening race.
Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images
Daytona International Speedway named Earnhardt grand marshal on Wednesday for the Feb. 18 season-opening Cup Series race, giving him duties that include issuing the command for the 40 drivers to start their engines.
Earnhardt, 43, retired from full-time racing after the 2017 season, which concluded Nov. 19. Although he will compete sporadically in the Xfinity Series, he has said he’s done racing in the Cup Series, NASCAR’s premier division.
“I was humbled when asked to be the grand marshal of next season’s Daytona 500,” Earnhardt said in a statement. “The race has so much history and being a two-time winner of the event is something I am extremely proud of.”
The Earnhardt name is synonymous with Daytona. No driver has won more races at the Florida track than the late Dale Earnhardt Sr., including a memorable victory in the 1998 Daytona 500. Earnhardt Jr. is a two-time Daytona 500 winner and his victory in the 2001 July Daytona race -- the first Cup race at the track following the death of his father in the 2001 Daytona 500 -- is regarded as one of NASCAR’s iconic moments.
“Talk about a perfect fit -- on the historic 60th running of the Daytona 500, we will have a man responsible for so much of our history serving as the grand marshal,” DIS president Chip Wile said. “He has meant so much to our facility, to NASCAR and all race fans through the years.”
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