It was a race Casey Mears didn’t mind losing.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup driver came in runner-up on Monday to 10-year-old Layla Popoff in the “Miniland 400,” a special event to celebrate the new Daytona International Speedway model display at LEGOLAND Florida Resort’s MINILAND USA.
Popoff represented Make-A-Wish Central and Northern Florida at LEGOLAND. Mears, meanwhile, drove a LEGO version of his No. 13 Geico Sprint Cup car. They drove past LEGO miniatures of several American landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty, Kennedy Space Center, the Las Vegas Strip and the New York City skyline.
Mears then visited with fans at the racing-themed Wheels Zone, part of the park’s newly re-imagined Imagination Zone.
The new DIS display was built out of nearly 300,000 LEGO bricks and took several months to assemble. It was unveiled to coincide with the upcoming Coke Zero 400 on July 2 at DIS.
Check out some of the tweets related to the event:
Layla beats @CJMearsGang and takes the checkered flag in the #MINILAND400! 🏁 pic.twitter.com/moLbdUmYpS
— Daytona International Speedway (@DAYTONA) June 20, 2016
What a fun day with @CJMearsGang @LEGOLANDFlorida. See you next week. #CokeZero400
— Chip Wile (@ChipWile) June 20, 2016
.@CJMearsGang and @ChipWile add their own touch to the @DISupdates model with their own minilanders! #MINILAND400 pic.twitter.com/v7mRGAgVTR
— Daytona International Speedway (@DAYTONA) June 20, 2016
Sooo @CJMearsGang just raced around millions of LEGOs at @LEGOLANDFlorida...
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 20, 2016
Sweetness 👍 pic.twitter.com/CEbkCzZAI4
What a awesome and inspiring young lady! Thanks for a fun day Layla! https://t.co/Ry6TZviTgS
— Casey Mears (@CJMearsGang) June 20, 2016
VICTORY! 10-year-old Layla Popoff wins the #MINILAND400 against #NASCAR driver @CJMearsGang at #LEGOLANDFlorida! pic.twitter.com/ExrWHbX1hz
— LEGOLAND Florida (@LEGOLANDFlorida) June 20, 2016
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