NASCAR Day shows sport's dedication to philanthropy

This weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, you'll notice that Tony Stewart is driving a car that doesn't quite look like his normal Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS.

Instead, the usual orange paint scheme of The Home Depot will have a new look -- to remind race fans to buy their NASCAR Day pins before NASCAR Day on May 18.

What is NASCAR Day? Well, it's the primary fundraising effort for The NASCAR Foundation, which was founded to assist other foundations and legions of folks who need a little bit of help.

The Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement retailer, and it's also The Official Home Improvement Warehouse of NASCAR. This year, The Home Depot's stores will be the exclusive retailer of NASCAR Day pins, and the special paint scheme helps kick off sales beginning April 16.

NASCAR Day, while not a national holiday, is among other things a celebration of the sport, and fans are encouraged to wear their favorite NASCAR gear to work as a way to celebrate.

Buying pins serves the purpose of raising money for The NASCAR Foundation Family of Charities, a group of more than 30 organizations that supports children's programs, animal welfare and conservation and just plain old philanthropy.

NASCAR Day pins are $5 each, and all proceeds are split equally among the member organizations of The NASCAR Foundation.

This year's celebration is the fourth NASCAR Day, and organizers hope to better last year's $1.3 million effort.

For Stewart, philanthropy is a way of life these days. Through The Tony Stewart Foundation, Stewart has given more than $2 million to Victory Junction Gang Camp for critically ill children founded by Kyle and Pattie Petty in remembrance of their son Adam.

For Stewart, it's about giving something back in honor of all the philanthropic largesse that came his way when he was making his way to U.S. motorsports' biggest stage.

"My career, especially before I became a Nextel Cup driver and an Indy car driver, when I decided I was going to quit working and strictly try to make a living driving racecars, there were a lot of times I either had to borrow money to get to the next event or somebody would let me stay overnight in their house," he said. "You realize what's been given to you and the help you've gotten along the way. It's nice to be able to return that favor by finally being able to give back. It really completes your life when you're able to do something like this and be able to give something back to the community." (Continued)