UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones is heading to NASCAR's Daytona 500.
Jones serves as an honorary race official for the 54th annual Sprint Cup Series race, which takes place Feb. 26 at Daytona International Speedway in Florida.
The season-opening NASCAR race airs on UFC broadcast partner FOX.
"I am thrilled to be able to serve as honorary race official at this year's Daytona 500, NASCAR's premier event," Jones stated in a release. "Like the UFC, NASCAR has a passionate and knowledgeable fan base, and I am honored that I will get to share this experience with them."
Jones (15-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) returns to action in April for a UFC 145 pay-per-view headliner with Rashad Evans (17-1-1 MMA, 12-1-1 UFC).
This is the latest public/media appearance for a fighter who's quickly becoming one of the UFC's biggest stars. In 2011, he found stardom after beating Mauricio "Shogun" Rua for the UFC belt. By year's end, he had defeated three ex-UFC champs (Rua, Quinton Jackson and Lyoto Machida), and he won the 2011 World MMA Award for "Fighter of the Year" in arguably the greatest single year my a fighter in MMA history.
The 2011 Daytona 500 was watched by 15.6 million viewers in the U.S., and 182,000 attended in person.
I don't follow that nascar stuff, had to ask my coworker what honorary official meant. He said all Jones would have to do is say gentlemen start your engines. So I guess if he could get away from the track before the racing really gets going he might come out of this thing unscathed rather than dinged up or what have you.
I tried to watch that beginning of the race on Fox to see Jones, but I fell asleep before it started because it took too long. Did see him interviewed though, for about 7 seconds.
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