Dale Earnhardt Jr. set to serve as Grand Marshall in next year's Daytona 500

Last edited Thu Nov 30, 2017, 02:09 AM - Edit history (1)

From Time, September 25:

Renowned NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. declared his support for peaceful protesters in a tweet Monday hours after an unprecedented show of solidarity among NFL players who knelt and linked arms in response to President Trump’s criticism of national anthem protests.

Earnhardt’s tweet, which garnered more than 123,000 likes, was a quote from former President John F. Kennedy about the dangers of limiting peaceful protests.

“All Americans R granted rights 2 peaceful protests,” Earnhardt tweeted Monday morning. Quoting Kennedy, he wrote: “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”

His tweet comes after Trump spent the weekend attacking players who took a knee during national anthems — a move the president said should get the players fired. Trump’s comments — which referred to former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who was the first player to take a knee during the national anthem to protest racial inequality and police brutality — set off a flurry of reaction and protests in the NFL and across the sports world.

http://time.com/4955774/nascar-trump-protest-dale-earnhardt-jr/


From NASCAR News, this evening:



Dale Earnhardt Jr. named 2018 Daytona 500 grand marshal

By Staff Report NASCAR.com November 29, 2017 at 5:14 pm

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will have a prominent role in next year’s Daytona 500 after all.

Daytona International Speedway announced Wednesday that the two-time winner of “The Great American Race” is set to serve as Grand Marshal for the 60th running of the Daytona 500, scheduled Feb. 18, 2018.

The recently retired Earnhardt won the Daytona 500 in 2004 and 2014. Come February, his duties will include giving the command to start engines to the field.

“I was humbled when asked to be the Grand Marshal of next season’s Daytona 500,” Earnhardt said in a release provided by the track. “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.”

https://www.nascar.com/news-media/2017/11/29/dale-earnhardt-jr-2018-daytona-500-grand-marshal/