If you think Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s retirement tour is a big deal now, just wait until the Coke Zero 400 Powered By Coca-Cola.
The July 1 race will be both Earnhardt’s final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start at Daytona International Speedway, and the first round of the JR Nation #APPRECI88TION Tour. And Daytona is getting the party started in a big way.
The centerpiece of the tribute weekend will be a work of art comprised of fan-submitted photos that Daytona will give to Earnhardt, according to a press release. Appropriately named the #Daletona mosaic, the compilation will be 15 feet by 5 1/2 feet and arranged such that the pictures form a piece that commemorates Earnhardt’s career at Daytona.
Fans can submit pictures of Earnhardt and Daytona that they want included in the mosaic by posting them to Instagram or Twitter using #Daletona.
But wait, there’s more.
Daytona will display Earnhardt’s No. 88 logo on the tri-oval grass, play a tribute video before the race and hold an #APPRECI88TION lap on Lap 88, during which spectators will stand and honor NASCAR’s most popular driver.
No word yet on what Daytona will do if Earnhardt wrecks out before the lap takes place. But, as Earnhardt said after Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350, it’s about who’s in the car, not where the car finishes.
Thumbnail photo via Mike DiNovo/USA TODAY Sports Images
