Watch: Oscar Winner Brendan Fraser Once Delivered Famous Line to Kick Off NASCAR Cup Race at Chicagoland

Earlier, the 95th Academy Awards wrapped up, with Brendan Fraser taking home the Best Actor award. The actor had largely been away from the Hollywood circus for a while. After a voice role for The Nut Job in 2014, he stuck to the TV screens until 2019. However, he burst back onto the scene last year, with the critically acclaimed The Whale. Now it is interesting to note that he has a NASCAR connection, albeit a small one.

As it happens, Fraser made an appearance at the 2008 NASCAR Cup race at the Chicagoland Speedway. He was serving as the grand marshal and delivered the iconic line, ‘Drivers! Start your engines!’

At the time, he was promoting the latest installment of the popular franchise, ‘The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor’. 

What was the Brendan Fraser movie about?

The first two movies were set in Egypt and followed Fraser’s character Rick O’Connell’s adventures exploring the pyramids. However, an ancient evil awoke and it soon became a fight for survival. However, ‘Tomb of the Dragon Emperor’ took the characters to China, where the heroes accidentally woke another enemy to fight. Admittedly, not all the original cast returned, as Rachel Weisz was replaced by Maria Bello.

Additionally, Luke Ford joined the cast as an aged-up version of O’Connell’s son. It is also interesting to note that fellow future Oscar winner, Michelle Yeoh, was also cast in the movie.

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Who won the NASCAR race where Fraser served as the grand marshal?

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This was the 19th race of the season, and the championship battle was heating up. The then Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Kyle Busch, started on pole position for the race after qualifying was canceled. He eventually went on to win the race ahead of Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick. Greg Biffle finished in fourth place ahead of Busch’s teammate Tony Stewart in 5th place.

Meanwhile, Brian Vickers, Matt Kenseth, David Ragan, Martin Truex Jr and Ryan Newman rounded out the Top 10. Of course, Busch did not have it easy with Johnson breathing down his neck. However, during the final restart, he eventually managed to overtake the Hendrick Motorsports driver and triumph.

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