- So while Kyle Busch won his second race in the first round, a very cool program also took place at Dover over the weekend. Three-time NFL Pro Bowler Shawne Merriman announced his youth initiative-- Lights Out Drive, A Day with NASCAR. So Shawne took 100 students age 8 to 16 to the race track, many from the inner city, who don't typically have the opportunity to experience NASCAR. And for Merriman, that's exactly why it was so important for them to be there in Dover.

[MECHANICAL SOUND EFFECT]

[MUSIC - IMAGINE DRAGONS, "RISE UP"]

SHAWNE MERRIMAN: You know, growing up when I was a kid, I watched NASCAR on TV, right? And I just saw all the cars going 180 miles an hour and circling. And I was like, oh, that's kind of cool. When I went to the track and experienced it for the first time, that's when it kind of sparked my interest. That's when I kind of fell in love with the sport.

And I had a chance to go and even experience NASCAR. It was because of football in 2008, when I was invited out to the races in Fontana. I was out as a Grand Marshal, and I remember waving a flag and being so nervous because of the adrenaline.

And the first thing I started to think about was, what would a 12- or 13-year-old Shawne Merriman done if he got an opportunity to go to a NASCAR event? Where I grew up at, we didn't have these opportunities. So right then and there, outside of being a fan, now you're bringing other people along that wouldn't have had the opportunity to go it.

(SINGING) I would always open up the door.

NFL was a platform for me. I mean, to be a professional athlete is one of the biggest things you can do coming from where I came from. Everybody won't go to the NFL. Everybody won't go to the NBA and have those opportunities. But you can be involved in NASCAR, and if you're not a driver, you can find jobs. You can be, you know, involved in the organization in some kind of way.

So it's not about just having diversity in the car. It's having diversity in the sport in general. There's a lot of opportunity here. And if you don't know how to reach out, or if you're not involved, or you don't have those doors that's not open to be involved, then it's very tough. So that's what I'm hoping to do today is open some doors, bridge some gaps.

I think this is my ninth-- eighth, ninth race this year alone. You know, I've been to all these great tracks in the country. And hopefully that they open the doors, and they have open arms to welcome these same type of programs because-- but unless you're given the opportunity to be involved, unless you're welcome and you're accepted, you know, it just-- it couldn't happen.