Luke Combs performed his fan-favorite track “Cold As You” during NASCAR’s Daytona 500 Pre-Race on Sunday (Feb. 14).
In honor of the 20th anniversary of Dale Earnhardt’s passing, the country superstar donned an Earnhardt branded leather jacket during his performance in front of a limited live audience, while millions watched from the comfort of their own homes on FOX. Earnhardt passed away during NASCAR’s Daytona 500 in February 2001.
Watch his performance below.
This performance marked Combs’ first live in-person concert since Feb. 14, 2020 in Kentucky. According to The Daytona Beach News Journal, Combs played five songs including the aforementioned track, “Beer Never Broke My Heart” and more.
“I grew up watching the NASCAR race every Sunday with my granddad; that was our thing,” Combs previously shared in a press release. “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.”
Latin superstar Pitbull will give the command to start engines and WWE star Sasha Banks will wave the green flag.
The Pre-Race Show aired on Sunday, February 14 at 1 p.m. EST. NASCAR’s Daytona 500 will air at 2:30 p.m. EST on FOX live from the Daytona International Speedway.
The race will see Denny Hamlin going for a record third consecutive victory in NASCAR’s biggest race.
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.
"We get the opportunity to see the fans for the first time in a long time." 🎤
Not a bad return to live music! 🎸@LukeCombs is in the house to perform ahead of the #Daytona500! He talks about the crossover between NASCAR and country music: pic.twitter.com/0oqz4rX7BE
— Andrew Kurland (@AndrewKurlandTV) February 14, 2021