Stunned Dale Earnhardt Jr Responds to Kendrick Lamar Showing Off His NASCAR Connection at Super Bowl LIX

It was 1982. To honor their titles in the NASCAR Grand National Series, Buick created a Grand National trim for the Regal. That year, it was just cosmetic work, but in the following years, they decided to ramp things up, like adding a turbocharged 3.8-litre V6 engine and the all-black paint. Then, 1986 and 1987 saw more upgrades with the horsepower, but its ultimate production closed out with the final model: The GNX.

Only 547 such cars were built. And so when Dale Earnhardt Jr. suddenly saw the car when he least expected it, he was stunned! Well, like all of us, he witnessed it at the Super Bowl halftime show, which was performed by Kendrick Lamar! Viewers were surprised to see the magnificent GNX parked on the stage. While the rapper stood on the hood of the car, dancers stepped out of the machine to start their part. Perhaps it was not an authentic GNX because Lamar wouldn’t dare crouch on the hood of a car that is worth about $110,000. But did you know that Lamar owns an authentic 1987 Buick GNX?

Of the 547 cars manufactured, he owns number 191. In fact, he has so much love for the Grand National lore that he dropped some internal GM build codes for the car in the past. The Buick GNX also shares a direct link with his childhood. The high-performance version of the Buick Regal was the very model his father drove while bringing a newborn Kendrick home in 1987.

So when fans, especially NASCAR fans, saw the Super Bowl halftime show featuring the gorgeous car, they were quite pleased. This includes Dale Earnhardt Jr. too! The NASCAR icon took to X and wrote, “I told Amy ‘That’s my dream car’.” Super Late Model star Matt Tifft also did not hold back his bubbling emotions. He responded to Earnhardt Jr’s tweet and wrote:

“I told my wife that too and she said “it’s ugly” 😞”

Besides Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Tifft, motorsports journalist Ryan McGee was also head over heels in awe. “I don’t care if you like Kendrick Lamar’s music or not. Any man who makes a Buick Grand National the centerpiece of the #SuperBowl halftime show is a superhero. #GNX”.

The significance of Lamar’s statement was indeed special for all gearheads. The Grand National Buick was one of the quickest-accelerating cars of the 1980s. That is one reason why its legacy has lasted through 40 years. The vehicle’s resell value has also soared in recent years. In a 2021 auction, one sold for $200,000.

But we know how difficult it would be to find a GNX. So how did Kendrick Lamar do it?

No, Kendrick Lamar didn’t use his own GNX!

Lamar couldn’t use his own car. There was no way. For his Super Bowl performance, he needed an authentic GNX that could be gutted. He wanted a clown car, and that’s where Shelley Rodgers, the show’s art director, came up with an answer.

“That car was not easy to find, especially since he dropped his album,” Rodgers stated. “We could have just used his, but I don’t know that he would’ve liked it after.”

Erik Eastland from All Access (the company responsible for formulating the stage for Sunday’s show) was the one who found the car at a mom-and-pop car lot in Riverside, California. With this, Kendrick Lamar’s vision for his Super Bowl performance started moving in the right direction.

Each performance space was shaped like a PlayStation-style controller, which intended to portray the rapper’s life as a video game. Of course, it was his own concept. Well, beyond the performance, his love for GNX is almost like a metaphor for his authentic connection with hip-hop. Remember his feud with Drake? How can we forget it, considering it was one of the biggest themes of his Super Bowl performance? A part of their feud was based on Lamar’s criticism of Drake being inauthentic in hip-hop culture.

Well, in March 2024, he wrote on Instagram, “…but in the moment of confusion, the best thing you can do is find a gnx. make you realize the only thing that matters in life is that original paper work. that TL2 code. 1 of 547.” TL2 code is a reference to the factory designation that General Motors used for Grand Nationals that received the GNX treatment. He subtly emphasized how music was based on authenticity, just like how originality is critical in classic cars.