Young fan's photo to be featured on No. 99 car

In what's clearly becoming a trend, Benjamin Tedeschi is the latest NASCAR fan whose face will appear on a racecar.

Benjamin was told he's going to be a star.

"I want to be the moon," he said.

Benjamin, you see, is 3 years old.

His older brother, Jacob, 13, is a huge Jeff Gordon fan. Middle brother Sam, 10, likes Dale Jarrett. Ben's favorite NASCAR driver is Lightning McQueen from the movie Cars.

Naturally, the older boys are questioning if little Ben is going to "get it" when he and his dad take an exclusive garage tour with Michael Waltrip and sit atop David Reutimann's pit stall during the Bashas' Supermarkets 200 at Phoenix International Raceway on Friday night (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2).

"The older boys are wondering if he knows what a big deal this is," said the boys' father, Dennis Tedeshi. "But they're definitely happy for Benjamin, and they will be with us in spirit watching at home."

Tedeschi grew up rooting for Dale Earnhart, his dad's favorite driver. "It was well before his dominance, and I cheered for Dale because that's who my dad pulled for," he said.

Now his driver is Dale Earnhardt Jr., whom he saw earn his first Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series wins at Texas Motor Speedway. Tedeschi, who grew up in St. Louis and lives in Tulsa, Okla., went to the first four races at Texas Motor Speedway. "Since then, we haven't had the chance with the three young boys," he said.

His wife, Chasity, also became an avid NASCAR fan through her dad, and a family tradition has been passed on. Dennis is quick to point out "everyone in our house is a fan of Michael Waltrip," and he's not saying that because Best Western is putting his son's face on Michael Waltrip Racing's Nationwide Series Toyota Camry for all of NASCAR Nation to see.

Tedeschi doesn't normally enter promotions. The former heavy-truck mechanic is pretty busy working for a mining equipment company and helping raise three boys. One day, he happened to be sending a goofy photo of Benjamin jumping on a trampoline to his older brother in China. The boy's hair looked positively electric. Later that day, surfing his favorite NASCAR Web sites, he noticed Best Western International was asking race fans to send a funny photo as the ultimate April Fools' gag. Kismet. Benjamin's shocking trampoline photo was fired off, and now father and son are leaving on a jet plane.

Fans can see a gallery of the funny photos submitted during the promotion on http://racing.bestwestern.com/promo/aprilfools-gallery.asp.

"As the official hotel of NASCAR, we have a responsibility to help race fans enjoy the NASCAR season whether that be in our hotels or at the racetrack," said Dorothy Dowling, senior vice president of marketing and sales for Best Western International. "Best Western wants to create opportunities for fans to be part of the excitement of the sport in unique and memorable ways."

Little Benjamin Tedeschi may not understand all that.

But the smart money says that after seeing his face on David Reutimann's Toyota, in the NASCAR garage, amid the growling roars of cold-metal beasts about to turn it wide open, the young boy's favorite NASCAR driver will no longer be Lightning McQueen.