X

Watch Dale Earnhardt Jr. take Mark Zuckerberg for the ride of his life

I should have invented Facebook.

Andrew Krok Reviews Editor / Cars
Cars are Andrew's jam, as is strawberry. After spending years as a regular ol' car fanatic, he started working his way through the echelons of the automotive industry, starting out as social-media director of a small European-focused garage outside of Chicago. From there, he moved to the editorial side, penning several written features in Total 911 Magazine before becoming a full-time auto writer, first for a local Chicago outlet and then for CNET Cars.
See full bio
Andrew Krok

If you're going to North Carolina and you don't get involved with stock car racing somehow, you're doing it wrong. Mark Zuckerberg went out that way and got it oh so right.

As part of his attempt to visit all 50 US states in order to learn more about different corners of the country, the Facebook founder and CEO ended up in North Carolina. His travels put him at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where he ended up sitting shotgun in Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s #88 Chevrolet for a few hot laps. That action starts around the 10:30 mark.

You can very clearly hear Zuck exclaim "Holy shit!" early on, which is probably what everyone says after going 'round a track with Junior himself. Following his ride, the young gun strapped into the driver's seat and gave it a go with Junior coaching from the pits. To his credit, Zuck proved his mettle, stalling the manual transmission racecar just once as he left the pits. Race clutches are not easy to manipulate.

Is Zuckerberg a car guy? There's a good chance he leans in that direction. He drives a Volkswagen Golf GTI with a manual transmission, which is a good start. And it was rumored that he put down a deposit on a Pagani Huayra when it debuted in 2014. That's good enough for us.