“They opened the ceiling, then they walked in”- When Dale Earnhardt Jr. shared a unique dinner experience with Jay-Z and Beyoncé

Former NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. once shared a surreal and memorable experience at dinner with music icon Jay-Z and Beyoncé at Monaco’s restaurant. The dinner became memorable for Dale Jr. because of how Jay-Z and Beyoncé made their entrance.

NASCAR's most popular driver, Dale Jr., had made a special appearance in Jay-Z's "Show Me What You Got" music video. It featured a Pagani Zonda Roadster and a Ferrari F430 Spider and was released in late October, 2006.

In 2018, during an interview with popular YouTube channel “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. recalled the amazing dinner moment he had with Jay-Z and Beyoncé.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. stated that while waiting for them at the table, the ceiling of a restaurant dramatically opened, and the time they entered and the ceiling closed as they sat down. It was unexpected and quite a high-profile dinner experience for NASCAR Hall of Famer.

Recalling a unique dinner experience with Jay-Z and Beyoncé, Dale Jr. said:

“We go to dinner that night; this was the best part. We go to dinner in this restaurant, and I'm sitting at the table. There was only a couple of us at the table; we just had dinner, so excited, and I'm waiting on them to get to the table, and the ceiling in this restaurant opens up, and you can see the stars and the moon, and I'm like, man, this is a really cool restaurant.”

“And while I'm looking up, Jay-Z and Beyoncé come and sit down, and then the ceiling closed. They opened the ceiling for them to come in and sit out. They opened the ceiling, then they walked in, and then they sat down, and the ceiling closed. That set the tone for that dinner, I'm going to tell you. We drank a lot of Heineken's”

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. once reflected on his transition from NASCAR driver to commentator

After retiring from full-time NASCAR racing, the two-time Xfinity Series champion joined the NASCAR on NBC broadcasting team as a commentator for the 2018 NASCAR Cup season. He made his debut at the Chicagoland race on July 1, 2018, joining Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, and his former crew chief Steve Letarte.

In the aforementioned interview, speaking about his new journey as a broadcaster, Dale Jr. said:

“I'm gonna go into the broadcast booth so I get to stay at the racetrack and talk about what I love which is racing and tell fans what you know just react to what I'm seeing and hopefully I'm good at it hopefully I can do it for a very long time”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will join the NASCAR broadcasting team for both TNT Sports and Amazon Prime for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.