By the Numbers

While many fans and critics of NASCAR spent hours leading up to the Daytona 500, debating the return of the #3 to the Sprint Cup Series, the son of the legendary driver of said #3 put up some tremendous numbers of his own, after following through with a promise.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. said prior to the Daytona 500, that if he won the prestigious race, he would FINALLY join Twitter.  He had set up the account, but never sent one tweet.  Fans and industry insiders have been hounding him for years to do so, but leave it to him to create even more buzz around his first ever tweet on the social media outlet.

With the long rain delay, stretching the race into the late hours, under the lights at Daytona, Earnhardt fans were at fever pitch, when the final caution flag flew, setting up a green-white-checkered finish.  Earnhardt delivered, sending fans into a frenzy, as he crossed the finish line, grabbing the checkers and etching his name into the record books.

Earnhardt walked into the media center after all of the Victory Lane hullabaloo, letting out a huge "Woooooo!"  and announced to the media there, that he "bet someone ain't come in here and screamed in 30 years!"  Which is likely true and refreshing to see such joy from a winner of the historic race.

True to his promise, at approximately 1:32am, our local time, he tweeted for the first time ever:  

He's boasting well over 254,000 followers as of 6am this morning and he just sent his second tweet, which also included a photo of his car in Victory Lane.  With any luck, his activity will prompt more people to join Twitter, as I thoroughly enjoy the brevity of 140 characters.  It leaves less opportunity for dirty laundry diatribes from people!