Yeley’s No. 23 Toyota to display names of fallen military members
TALLADEGA, Ala. — With the Memorial Day holiday weekend just around the corner, BK Racing officials have announced a program that will allow fans to submit the names of fallen service members to be placed on the No. 23 Toyota of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver J.J. Yeley.
The names will appear on the car during the upcoming Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, scheduled for Sunday, May 24.
Cost for an individual’s name to appear is $10; according to a BK Racing release, a portion of the proceeds will go to the Hope For The Warriors nonprofit group.
“We are going to run a program that says ‘We salute you’ on our hood,” Yeley said Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway. “Hopefully we will have that car completely filled for the Coca-Cola 600.
“Without these gentlemen and ladies doing the things they do … sometimes I feel like they don’t really get the support that they should.
“Last week at Richmond, there were about 18 servicemen standing on pit road … almost invisible to people. So I went over and shook everyone’s hands and thanked them. Because I know that we wouldn’t get to do what we do on a weekly basis without the protection that they give us.”
BK Racing fields three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams for Yeley, Matt DiBenedetto and Jeb Burton. Yeley’s car is the only one that will carry the special paint scheme at CMS.
DiBenedetto has a brother in the military, and said he “takes a lot of pride in that.
“It’s exciting,” he said of the BK Racing special ‘American Salute’ program. “Ron Devine, our owner, everybody is just good down-to-earth people and they truly want to give back. It will be nice to be a part of that.”
Hope for the Warriors provides support programs for service members, veterans and military families.