Larry the Cable Guy on Git-R-Done assignment at Kansas Speedway

Daniel Lawrence Whitney, popularly known as Larry the Cable Guy, had a devilish thought for his duty as grand marshal of the Go Bowling 400 on Saturday at Kansas Speedway.

“I was going to say, ‘Gentlemen and Kyle Busch start your engines,’ and they said I probably better not do that, they don’t want to piss nobody off,” Whitney said.

“I’ll do a traditional and say ‘Start your engines and Git-R-Done.’”

With the entertainer’s catch phrase, drivers prepared for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race, an event that’s near and dear to Whitney.

He spent the day sporting a sleeve-cut Dick Trickle T-shirt, “my prized possession that I’ve saved forever,” he said.

Whitney, originally from Pawnee City, Neb., attended his cousin’s late-model short-track races in La Crosse, Wis., in the late 1970s. While attending college in Georgia, he worked in security at the Atlanta Motor Speedway and was in charge of the Cale Yarborough suite.

Whitney has been to the Daytona races 21 times.

“I’ve got to drive the pace car a couple of times, I’ve been the grand marshal three or four times,” Whitney said. “I love NASCAR. People ask me who my favorite drivers are, I never say anybody really because I have a bunch of buddies that race.”

Whitney on other topics:

Is it time to update his carrier nickname? “I’ve been pitching forever for DirectTV to have me do their commercials. What a better fit? Larry the Cable Guy has switched to Direct TV? It’s a win-win for everybody. They pay me, I’ll call myself anything. I’ll be Larry the antenna guy.”

A huge Nebraska football fan, Whitney yearns for the old-school Huskers. “We got away from Nebraska football, the option game. You run that option you’re going to get the best linemen, the best running backs, the best tight ends. We don’t have that anymore.”

This story was originally published May 13, 2017 at 6:56 PM with the headline "Larry the Cable Guy on Git-R-Done assignment at Kansas Speedway."