Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson to serve as Daytona 500 Grand Marshal
One of the biggest stars in the whole world will be on hand at the 2024 Daytona 500 in a few weeks as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will be on hand to tell the racers to start their engines as the Grand Marshal for the race.
He joins a long list of celebrities to have given the famous command and had the honor to begin proceedings for one of Nascar’s iconic races. It’s also the second time that Johnson will have the honor for a NASCAR race, having done so in Texas in 2004.
A former football player, WWE star, and now an actor and businessman, he’s also a noted bodybuilder and the sort of larger-than-life figure suited to these moments. He’s also recently been the guest picker on ESPN’s College GameDay.
The 2024 Daytona 500 is slated for Sunday, February 18, at 2:30 p.m., with Johnson kicking off things shortly beforehand.
Odds for the 2024 Daytona winner are out
Daytona is set to kick off the 2024 calendar in a few weeks and the odds have come out for who might win in early December.
These early odds are always fun. It gives fans something to talk about, bettors something to put money on – it also lets you know what Vegas thinks about these drivers. I’d also say these opening odds reveal something about the new cars in the Cup Series.
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In the opening odds for the Daytona 500, NASCAR on NBC has Ryan Blaney as the favorite at 9-1 odds. He is followed by Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott, and Brad Keselowski at 11-1 odds.
William Byron and Denny Hamlin are both +1200. Joey Logano is listed at +1400. The rest of the top-10 in the opening odds are Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, and Christopher Bell at +1600 odds.
The Daytona 500 odds reveal a few things: Ford and the new Dark Horse might be the best on superspeedways. Four Ford drivers in the top 10 of the odds. Keselowski pushed Buescher to the win at Daytona for the regular season finale this season. That is a good pick.
Joey Logano and Kyle Busch were right there with a chance to win at the end of the race this year. But they fell short. Also, very interesting that Elliott is favored so much in this whole thing. Hamlin and Bell are holding it down for the Toyotas in the opening odds.
On3’s Jonathan Howard contributed to this report.