Luke Combs performing at 2021 Daytona 500

Longtime NASCAR fan will star during pre-race show on Valentine’s Day

Multi-platinum, ACM, CMA, CMT and Billboard Music Award-winning artist Luke Combs will perform the Daytona 500 Pre-Race Show prior to the 63rd running of The Great American Race on Sunday, February 14th at Daytona International Speedway at 2:30 pm ET/11:30 am PT on FOX, FOX Deportes, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Combs, an Asheville, NC native, is a longtime NASCAR fan and is looking forward to performing at the World Center of Racing to help ignite the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season.

“I grew up watching the NASCAR race every Sunday with my granddad; that was our thing.” states Combs. “I never could have imagined back then that I’d be playing the Daytona 500 one day, so this is super awesome and is something I’m really looking forward to.”

Combs will take to the stage prior to the start of DAYTONA 500 in front of a limited number of fans as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, while millions will watch from home on FOX. The race will see Denny Hamlin go for a record third consecutive victory in NASCAR’s biggest race.

“The tradition of the Daytona 500 Pre-Race Show has been an incredibly popular hit with race fans,” Daytona International Speedway President Chip Wile shares. “Luke has been one of the most influential country music stars over the last few years and his fan appeal is incredible. It’s a bonus, too, that he loves our sport. He will help get another thrilling DAYTONA 500, as well as a new NASCAR season, off to an exciting start.”

Combs’ new deluxe album, What You See Ain’t Always What You Get, is out now on River House Artists/Columbia Nashville and debuted at No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart as well as Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart. It also set the new weekly streaming record for a country album with 102.26 million on-demand streams, breaking Combs’ own record, which he set last November (2019) with the release of his platinum-certified, global No. 1 album, What You See Is What You Get.

The new deluxe album features all 18 tracks from What You See Is What You Get as well as five new songs including “Forever After All,” which debuted at No. 2 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart — the highest entrance ever for a male country solo artist. With the release, Combs also reached No. 1 on Rolling Stone’s Top 200 Albums chart, Top 100 Songs chart and Artists 500 chart — the first country artist ever to lead all three charts in the same week and first to top the Artists 500.

Adding to a series of groundbreaking and historic years, Combs recently won two awards at the 55th ACM Awards, three awards at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards and two awards at the 54th CMA Awards. He also recently made history as the first artist ever to have their first two studio albums spend 25 weeks or more at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart — breaking Taylor Swift’s previously held record at 24 weeks.

Continuing his triumphant run at country radio, Combs’ latest single, “Better Together,” marks his 10th No. 1 at country radio — a first on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart. This means each of Combs’ singles released to country radio have landed at the top of the charts.

Buddy Iahn
Buddy Iahn

Buddy Iahn founded The Music Universe when he decided to juxtapose his love of web design and music. As a lifelong drummer, he decided to take a hiatus from playing music to report it. The website began as a fun project in 2013 to one of the top independent news sites. Email: info@themusicuniverse.com