Spade featured performer at Cup awards ceremony

Comedian/actor David Spade will serve as the featured performer at the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Awards Ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City on Friday.

Spade is a long-time fan of NASCAR, having served as grand marshal for the March 19, 2006, race at Atlanta.

He also was the honorary mayor at the Southern 500 on Aug. 31, 2003, at Darlington, where, during a harrowing ride around the track with Wally Dallenbach, Spade earned his "Darlington Stripe."

That race, won by Terry Labonte, marked the final Labor Day weekend race at the South Carolina track.

Spade, who currently stars in the CBS comedy Rules of Engagement, was nominated for an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award and an American Comedy Award in 1999 for his role on the series Just Shoot Me.

He also was nominated three times for an Emmy as a writer on the long-running series Saturday Night Live, on which he appeared from 1990-95. Spade's feature film credits include Tommy Boy, Joe Dirt, Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star and The Benchwarmers.

• The 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Awards Ceremony will be broadcast at 9 p.m. ET Friday on ESPN Classic.