NASCAR: Dale Earnhardt Jr. named 2018 Daytona 500 Grand Marshal

Former NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been named Grand Marshal for the 2018 Daytona 500 in February that will kick off the Cup Series season.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., 43, retired from full-time competition in the NASCAR Cup Series following the conclusion of this past season. However, he will still be involved in the sport, even as early as the 2018 Daytona 500, which will kick off the season on Sunday, February 18th.

Earnhardt Jr. was named the grand marshal for the 60th annual running of the Daytona 500, which is about 11 and a half weeks from now. As Grand Marshal of the event, he will be responsible for giving the command to the field to start engines.

Here is what Earnhardt Jr. had to say about the opportunity to be Grand Marshal for NASCAR’s biggest race in 2018.

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"“I was humbled when asked to be the Grand Marshal of next season’s Daytona 500. The race has so much history and being a two-time winner of the event is something I am extremely proud of. The list of names who have Grand Marshaled the race is one I’m honored to add my name to. Speedweeks is an exciting time for our sport, and this assures me an opportunity to witness the thrills of it all.”"

Earnhardt Jr. himself is a two-time winner of the race, winning it in the 2004 and 2014 season to put him in a tie for 6th place on the all-time Daytona 500 wins list.

His two wins in the race make up half of his four career Cup Series wins at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, which is the track at which he has had his second highest amount of success over the years behind only Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama, where six of his 26 career Cup Series victories came throughout the course of his 18-year full-time career in the sport that began back in the 2000 season.

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Are you excited to see Dale Earnhardt Jr. return to the NASCAR Cup Series as Grand Marshal for the 2018 season-opening Daytona 500? That race is under 12 weeks from now, and it will be the first race since races in the 1999 season during which Earnhardt Jr. was not a full-time driver at the time of the event.