NASCAR: Guy Fieri to Give 'Start Your Engines' Call at Wednesday Night's race

NASCAR is back in action on Wednesday night with the Toyota 500 at Darlington Raceway. This is the [...]

By John Newby

NASCAR is back in action on Wednesday night with the Toyota 500 at Darlington Raceway. This is the second Cup Series race in four days, and the Mayor of Flavortown will be firing up the drivers before the green flag waves. Guy Fieri will be serving as the grand marshal and will be giving the "drivers, start your engines" call.

NASCAR announced the news on Monday with a photo of Fieri in his natural habitat, a commercial kitchen. The sight of the self-described Mayor of Flavortown created excitement among racing fans, as well as those that watch Guy's Grocery Games. In fact, some users on Twitter expressed the belief that Fieri should also be in charge of starting the race. They wanted him to count down in the middle of a conversation in an effort to trick the drivers.

"@GuyFieri bring all the excitement you have for food to the command!!!" one fan wrote on Monday night. Several others joined in and showed their excitement for the celebrity chef's upcoming appearance. They expressed the belief that Fieri is capable of making grocery shopping exciting, so he should easily be able to fire up the drivers on Wednesday.

This is the third time that the celebrity chef has served as the grand marshal for a NASCAR event. He previously gave the call at the 2015 NASCAR All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway and the Pennsylvania 400 at Pocono Raceway in 2016. Fieri has also attended season-ending awards banquets.

Prior to Fieri giving the time-honored call to start the engines, singer Jewel will lend her talents to the festivities. She will be singing the national anthem and setting the stage for the race. Darius Rucker performed prior to The Real Heroes 400 on Sunday, albeit virtually, and Jewel will also sing from an off-site location.

This race will be the 117th Cup Series event hosted at the Darlington Raceway. The historic track, which is known as The Lady in Black due to the number of wrecks, originally opened in 1950. The inaugural Cup Series race took place that same year, which Johnny Mantz won.

The Toyota 500 will take place on Wednesday night at Darlington Raceway. FS1 will broadcast the race while Jeff Gordon and Mike Joy commentate the action from a studio in Charlotte, North Carolina. Fans unable to watch the action on TV can listen via MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Like The Real Heroes 400, the Toyota 500 will be held without fans in attendance. NASCAR is continuing to follow guidelines for sporting events amid the coronavirus pandemic, which involved limited personnel and no fans. Several drivers, such as Ryan Newman and Kevin Harvick, commented that it was odd having the track perfectly silent, but they were still happy to have the opportunity to race once again.

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