RELATED: Learn about the troops being honored this weekend
CONCORD, N.C. -- For the second consecutive year, the names displayed across the windshields of the cars that will take the green flag in Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET, FOX) will be unfamiliar to most race fans.
Gone are the names of Earnhardt Jr., Keselowski and Kenseth emblazoned across the tops of the vehicles. There is no Stewart, Busch or Logano.
They have been replaced on this Memorial Day weekend with the names of Lynch, Taylor, Massarelli and Miranda. Carter, Jablonsky, Ramseyer and Gonzales. It's a long list. It's too long of a list.
Including grand marshal vehicles and two pace cars, 44 of the vehicles here at Charlotte Motor Speedway will carry the names of fallen members of the United States military.
Army. Navy. Marines. Air Force.
Pilot. Gunner. Seal. Ranger.
Their ranks varied. Their job did not. They were soldiers. They made the ultimate sacrifice.
It's 600 Miles of Remembrance in the eyes of the NASCAR community. It's a lifetime of memories to those who knew them.
RELATED: Every car in the field, plus fallen military member's name
NASCAR officials worked with the Honor and Remember organization to pair fallen servicemen and women and their families with teams where no direct affiliations existed. But most of those we honor today at CMS had ties to NASCAR, through relationships with drivers or crewmen, sponsors or owners.
Graham Molatch, the jack man for Chip Ganassi Racing's No. 42 Chevrolet with driver Kyle Larson, is a former Navy Seal. Larson's car carries the name of fellow Seal Denis Miranda. The two were roommates serving in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2010 when Miranda died in a helicopter crash.
"Denis was just a great person and I'm really, really honored to have a chance to have (him) on our car," Molatch said Saturday at CMS. "It means a lot to me. I think it means a lot to the guys on the team that we get to support Denis' name and his family. …
"They should be acknowledged more than just once a year but it is great … to display their names. It's an honor for me personally, and a great honor for his family."
Jimmy Woolard was a childhood friend of team co-owner Jack Roush. Woolard, whose name is carried on the No. 17 Ford of driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. this weekend, was killed in action during the Vietnam War.
Master Sergeant Paul Karpowich was a family friend of Mike Bugarewicz, crew chief of the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 14 Chevrolet for driver Tony Stewart.
PFC John Borbonus was a classmate of driver Brian Scott (Richard Petty Motorsports) in Boise, Idaho.
There are others. Too many others.
Their photos are strikingly similar, most showing vibrant, smiling faces, full of life.
Some were on their first mission; many had been a part of multiple deployments.
There are those who left behind wives and young children. For others, family life would have come later.
Later never arrived.
There are those who left behind mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters. We honor them today every bit as much as we do those who are no longer with us.
You may not recognize their names. But you should know why those names are there.
It's the very least we can do.