Transformers' star Josh Duhamel and crew to serve as grand marshals for today's Daytona 500

Photo for Headline Surfer / Director Michael Michael Bay,  shown here on set for the latest Transformers movie, will serve as grand marshall for the Daytona 500, along with actors Josh Duhamel and Rosie Huntington-Whitely.
 
By HENRY FREDERICK
Headline Surfer
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The stars of “TRANSFORMERS: Dark of the Moon”– Josh Duhamel, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and director Michael Bay – will serve as the grand marshals for today's Daytona 500.

As Grand Marshals, the TRANSFORMERS cast will deliver the four most famous words in motorsports – “Gentlemen, start your engines.”

In addition, the modified NASCAR stock cars of drivers Jimmie Johnson, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. featured in the movie will make their first public appearance by leading the 43-car field during the pace laps of “The Great American Race,” the kick-off event to the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

The Daytona 500 will not be Bay or TRANSFORMERS’ first introduction to the NASCAR world. In 2009, Bay piloted the official pace car at a NASCAR Sprint Cup race to promote the DVD release of “TRANSFORMERS: Revenge of the Fallen.”

NASCAR drivers Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman also took part, racing with branded images of opposing AUTOBOTS and DECEPTICONS on their cars and uniforms. Bay credits his vision to include NASCAR stock cars in the new TRANSFORMERS film to this experience.