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When the official TV broadcast of the 2017 running of the Daytona 500 kicks off at 2pm this Sunday, the millions of people watching on Fox will be treated to the sound of NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon’s voice. He’ll be kicking off the broadcast with live narration from behind the wheel of the 2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 that serves as official pace car for this year’s race.
The Drive‘s own chief auto critic Lawrence Ulrich happened to be down in Florida driving the 650-horsepower muscle car this week as well, and he grabbed Gordon for a couple seconds to chat about both the newest Camaro and the race itself.
“I can remember when 300 horsepower was big for a street car, and now we’re more than double that,” Gordon told Ulrich. “This car is capable of pacing this race if it went green,” he added with a wink.
The three-time Daytona 500 winner told The Drive‘s auto critic that, while he owns a previous-generation Camaro ZL1, race day will be his first time driving the new 2017 model. (Sadly, he’ll have to keep it down to the pit speed of 55 miles per hour.) But that’s not the only reason he’s looking forward to climbing into the monster ‘Maro and leading the pack.
“Having two Chevys in my rear-view mirror…will make it that much more special,” he said, referring to the cars being driven by Chase Elliott and Dale Earnhardt Jr. that’ll be in the front row of the pack.
Well, Jeff, if you happen to be reading this—let us know what you think of the new Camaro ZL1 after you take it out for a spin. We’ll even give you your own byline if you want to do a review.
