The 2005 Daytona 500 Pace Car - a Millennium Yellow Corvette Coupe

Dale Earnhardt Jr., the 2004 Daytona 500 champion, unveiled the all-new 2005 Corvette that paced the 47th annual Daytona 500 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series season opener during the national broadcast of Fox & Friends. Actor Matthew McConaughey served as the Honorary Pace Car Driver for the 2005 Daytona 500. He was also the Grand Marshal for the race, delivering the command to start engines. Actor Ashton Kutcher waved the green flag to start the race.

February 8th, 2005

Earnhardt Jr., who drove the #8 Budweiser Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Inc., revealed the Corvette coupe that paced the 43-car field in “The Great American Race” on Sunday, Feb. 20 – NASCAR’s richest, biggest and most prestigious event at historic Daytona International Speedway. 

The design of the Daytona 500 Corvette pace vehicle included elements that reflect the heritage and attitude of the historic winning Corvette race cars. The Corvette pace vehicle was millennium yellow with a black racing stripe centered across the hood, roof and trunk lid with the Daytona 500 logo on each door and Chevy’s “An American Revolution” slogan on the rear spoiler. This was the 34th consecutive year General Motors provided the Official Pace Car for the Daytona 500. The Daytona 500 was one of 60 NASCAR events Chevrolet paced in 2005, including 28 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup, 17 Busch Series and 15 Craftsman Truck Series races.

Chevrolet also provided Corvettes for "Official Car" duty that carried drivers on their introduction lap and also for Pace Car duties used during Speedweeks at other NASCAR races in Daytona.