James Franco will act as Grand Marshal for the Daytona 500

Promoting a movie isn’t just about late-night talk shows and the occasional photo shoot anymore. At least not if your name is James Franco.

Disney has announced that James Franco will act as the Grand Marshal for the 55th annual Daytona 500, NASCAR’s season-opening race and its Super Bowl, from a fan-interest point of view. How this ties in to Franco promoting his Disney film, Oz The Great and Powerful, we are not sure — perhaps he’ll hold court in a hot-air balloon? — but you can watch Franco’s rendition of “Drivers, start your engines,” when the race airs Feb. 24.

As well as uttering those four famous words, Franco will also participate in pre-race ceremonies and ride in one of the Grand Marshal cars during the pace laps that take place just before the race begins.

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