Carl Edwards Hosts WWE Monday Night RAW

Just a week before he and 42 competitors take to Daytona International Speedway for the Daytona 500, former Nationwide Series champion Carl Edwards stepped into a WWE ring to host Monday Night RAW.

After having his No. 99 Aflac Ford Fusion driven into the arena by wrestler Hornswoggle, Edwards made his way to the ring escorted by WWE Divas Nikki and Brie Bella.

Much to the crowds delight, Cousin Carl entered the ring, climbed to the top rop and did his signature backflip before addressing the sold out crowd at the Cajundrome in Lafayette, Lousianna.

The charismatic winner of a combined 47 races in NASCAR's top three series congratulated the crowd once again on their New Orleans Saints becoming SuperBowl champions. He of course plugged this weekend's Daytona 500, calling it "our SuperBowl, our WrestleMania."

Before he was able to continue, WWE champion Sheamus crashed the party.

The champ also referred to Edwards' friendship with former champion John Cena, before continuing on with his promo. He was later interrupted by ECW (Extreme Champion Wrestling, WWE's Tuesday night program) champion Christian, who mentioned the growing popularity of NASCAR in his native Canada.

Edwards would appear later in the show for a spot with Subway spokesman Jared, and later to announce three matches for next week's RAW, which will be hosted by Jerry Springer: Randy Orton against Sheamus, Kofi Kingston versus Ted DiBiase, and finally his friend John Cena will take on Triple H.

This of course was not Edwards first exposure to the world of wrestling.

The aforementioned Cena and Edwards appeared together for "Fast Cars and Superstars: Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race", a promotion pairing several drivers with a celebrity in racing challenges. They have also appeared on Gillette commercials together and Cena also made a pit stop at Speed's "Trackside" alongside Edwards at Atlanta in 2008.

This was the second time the worlds of WWE and NASCAR tagged teamed; just five months earlier, Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Joey Logano also hosted the event, which is the longest running cable program in television history.