Thanks to some help from Dale Junior, Robert Griffin III to drive pace car at Richmond

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had an idea for Richmond International Raceway's race on Saturday and the track decided to use it.

In March, Junior suggested on Twitter that Robert Griffin III, the quarterback of his favorite team, the Washington Redskins, should be involved in the pre-race ceremonies for the race. After all, Washington D.C. isn't too far from Richmond, Va.

And now Griffin is involved. The track announced Wednesday that Griffin would drive the pace car before Saturday night's race.

When Junior pitched the idea, the president of Richmond, Dennis Bickmeier immediately responded with the pace car idea. But unlike some Twitter ideas that never get carried over to real life, this one did. It probably helped that Griffin immediately responded too.

And now, exactly a month later, it's a reality.

After much obsession over the health of Griffin's surgically-repaired right knee throughout the 2013 season, this is one arena that no one has to worry about it in as Griffin is now more than 15 months removed from LCL and ACL surgery. In 2010, Denny Hamlin raced with a torn ACL and even had surgery during hte middle of season. 19 days after the surgery he won at Texas.

Griffin's appearance at Richmond is also a counter-move to Jason Witten's presence at Texas earlier in April. Witten was scheduled to drive the pace car at Texas Motor Speedway. North Carolina football coach Larry Fedora also drove the pace car at Martinsville while Tennessee coach Butch Jones and Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer were the co-grand marshals of the race at Bristol.

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Nick Bromberg

is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @NickBromberg