NASA to host Daytona 500 media day at Kennedy Space Center

In honor of NASA's 50th anniversary and the 50th running of NASCAR's Daytona 500 in February, NASA's Kennedy Space Center will host a media day Tuesday, June 17, starting at 11:30am/et. The event will include the winner of this year's race, Ryan Newman. During the event, NASA will present NASCAR with two green racing flags that were flown last February aboard space shuttle Atlantis' STS-122 mission to the International Space Station. One flag will be given to Newman, the second will be presented to Daytona International Speedway President Robin Braig. A third flag that was flown will be kept by NASA for public display. At the event, Newman will drive the crawler-transporter, the huge tracked vehicle that carries space shuttles to the launch pad. The flag presentation ceremony will be at Launch Pad 39A. Following the ceremony, a news media question-and-answer session will be held at the pad. Afterward, there will be a separate interview opportunity for print media in Kennedy's news center auditorium. The connection between NASA and Daytona's International Speedway extends beyond their close proximity to one another. During recent years, technology developed for the space program has found many uses on Earth, including helping NASCAR drivers stay safe and increase performance.