Decorated Green Beret to be Newman's guest at LMS

CONCORD, N.C. -- Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Goodloe, a Green Beret and decorated war hero, will be a guest of Ryan Newman and the No. 39 Stewart-Haas Racing team for Sunday's Memorial Day weekend classic -- the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway near Charlotte.

The Special Operations soldier, who is a 1989 graduate from South Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte, served in seven separate tours of duty between Afghanistan and Iraq. He was awarded four Bronze Stars and one Bronze Star with Valor.

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Goodloe's seven tours of duty included four different deployments in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and three different deployments in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He currently serves as an instructor at the U.S. Army Sniper School at Fort Bragg, N.C.

When Newman visited Fort Bragg in January, Goodloe was his instructor at the Special Forces Sniper Weapons Range where Newman fired numerous rounds with the M107 50-caliber long-range sniper rifle.

"I've been a big NASCAR fan all my life and this is so exciting to be a guest of the Army team this weekend," Goodloe said. "I've been to a number of NASCAR races in the past, especially at Rockingham and Darlington. I am looking forward to seeing Ryan -- he did a good job on the weapons range when he paid us a visit."

Newman, who said it was a thrill to pump lead with the big weapons during his trip to Fort Bragg, is looking forward to Goodloe's visit.

"It will be an honor to have Sgt. Goodloe as a guest this weekend -- his service to our country is truly heroic," Newman said. "What's interesting about visiting with soldiers is that they want to talk about what I do and I want to talk about what they do -- it's a great camaraderie that we have."