Austin Hill tames Talladega, wins Xfinity Series race

Posted on April 26, 2025April 27, 2025 by Holly Cain

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill prevailed in a three-wide photo finish in the Ag-Pro 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway — edging ahead of Jeb Burton and his RCR teammate Jesse Love at the time the field was frozen with an electronic timestamp approaching the checkered flag.

The caution flag and checkered flag flew simultaneously after Love’s No. 2 Chevrolet made contact with the rear of then-race leader, JR Motorsports rookie Connor Zilisch’s No. 88 Chevrolet just after the white flag came out signaling one lap to go. Zilisch’s car spun down into the track apron, hitting the wall, leaving Hill, Burton and Love to sort out the trophy.

It marks the ninth superspeedway victory for Hill, making the 30-year-old Georgia native the Xfinity Series’ all-time winningest driver on drafting-style tracks such as Talladega, Daytona and Atlanta — breaking a tie with a pair of Hall of Famers, Tony Stewart and the late Dale Earnhardt.

“Man, we really had to work for that one,’’ said Hill, who now has a series-best three victories this year and 13 in his career. “It just seemed like our car was really good. Everyone at RCR and RCR engines are bad to the bone, like always. We had to work. I thought the 2 (Love) was really good and when we got the push from the 2 going into [turn] one, he got inside of me and I thought that was a bad mistake and I should have covered it. So I thought we were done. But I just locked in and kept pushing the heck out of the 2 car.

“I knew it was either me or the 27 [Burton],’’ he said of the photo finish. “Man, to win them — any way you win them is always great — and finally to conquer Talladega, that’s something I’ve really wanted to do for a long time.

“We’ve won at all these other superspeedways and to finally get it done at all the different superspeedways we go to, it just shows the 21 team can win at any of them and we’re really good at this style of racing.’’

It was an especially tough outcome for Burton, who had two previous wins at this 2.66-mile high-banked Talladega track — NASCAR’s largest — and still felt after the race that his No. 27 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet was leading the field at the time of caution — although ultimately video did confirm Hill’s win.

“I felt like we did everything we could today, so just frustrated,’’ said an emotional Burton. “Every angle I see, we won the race.

“Just appreciate my guys,’’ he continued. “We do a lot with a little team. We don’t have a lot of chances to win, you know. That’s what’s frustrating.’’

WATCH: The CW crew breaks down close three-wide Talladega finish

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The defending race winner Love, who was scored third, led a race-best 50 of the 113 laps on the day, but conceded the last lap was a typical superspeedway all-out rush to the checkered flag.

“I’m pretty sure I wrecked my best friend, I’m going to owe him an apology,’’ Love told the Motor Racing Network of contact with Zilisch, who was checked out in the infield care center and released post-race.

“I just got really good pushes there at the end and I was able to lift enough off of [turn] two to get really good pushes. I kind of thought we’d made our bed and were not in position to win, but I was able to get Austin [Hill] connected to me and he was able to give me a push down the backstretch and get rolling again.”

Reigning Xfinity Series champion, JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier, finished fourth, followed by Viking Motorsports’ Matt DiBenedetto. Anthony Alfredo, Blaine Perkins, Harrison Burton, Sheldon Creed and rookie Daniel Dye in the top 10. Zilisch, who led nine laps, was credited with 27th place.

Of note, Katherine Legge became the fourth woman in history to lead an Xfinity Series race — and the second at Talladega. The sports car and IndyCar veteran led Lap 75 in the No. 32 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet, equaling Danica Patrick’s one lap out front in 2012 at Talladega.

Legge looked to be turning in a solid Talladega debut — her second Xfinity Series start this season — and was running 15th on Lap 100 when she was collected in an accident triggered by NASCAR veteran Aric Almirola, who later apologized, saying miscommunication with his spotter led to the high-speed miscue.

Allgaier’s runner-up showing was enough for him to maintain a 79-point advantage over Hill atop the standings.

The Xfinity Series moves to the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway for next Saturday’s Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 (2 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Haas Factory Team driver Sam Mayer is the defending race winner.

NOTE: Post-race inspection in the Xfinity Series garage concluded without issue, confirming Hill as the race winner.

Posted on April 26, 2025 by Dustin Albino

TALLADEGA, Ala. – With Team Penske’s superspeedway program being so superb in recent years, it seems like a prerequisite that being part of the powerhouse organization is the ability to achieve success at drafting-style tracks.

Short-track ace Josh Berry, driver for the Penske-aligned Wood Brothers Racing, would beg to differ. While the results haven’t been immediate, the Tennessee native has put in the effort to improve at drafting tracks and led a career-high 56 laps, including an opening stage victory, in the most recent trip to the drafting-style Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Although it’s been a brief tenure so far, being in the Penske pipeline has elevated Berry at these types of venues.

“One thing that helps is we’ve been qualifying really well,” Berry said. “That puts you in a good position and gets you a better pit stall. Things are starting to make a little more sense to me as to how to approach these races. I felt I worked really well with [Penske] in Atlanta and tried to piggyback off that coming here.”

Mission accomplished in qualifying on Saturday.

Three-time Cup champion Joey Logano led the way for the Penske brigade and will start in third position for Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (3 p.m. ET, FOX). Austin Cindric slotted in seventh, with Berry and Ryan Blaney ranking eighth and ninth, respectively. Ford dominated the session, as Zane Smith from Front Row Motorsports – another Penske affiliate – earned his first Cup Series pole.

Between the season-opening Daytona 500 and Atlanta, the three in-house Penske cars have combined to lead 256 of 467 laps (54.8%). Both Logano and Cindric have already reached triple-digit laps out front on superspeedways in 2025. Add in Berry’s 56 laps led at Atlanta and the number increases to 312 of 467 (66.8%).

The finishes have been another story.

Blaney has the organization’s lone top five on drafting tracks, rebounding from a late spin to place fourth at Atlanta. Cindric was wrecked while battling for the lead in both races with under five laps remaining and has a best effort of eighth. Logano led a race-high 83 laps at Atlanta, but has yet to earn a top 10 in the opening two superspeedways in 2025 (best finish is 12th). Dating back to 2022, the No. 22 team has a best finish of 19th in the six Talladega races in the Next Gen car.

“There have been a lot of wrecks lately on the superspeedways – and they’ve been big,” Logano, who was in the middle of a 28-car pileup – the largest in NASCAR history – last fall at Talladega, said. “Unfortunately, if you look at the best speedway racers, you can probably count six or seven, they don’t win that often. They win stages and score a lot of points and lead a lot of laps, but they don’t always win. It’s because everybody wrecks and gets caught up in them. It’s the nature of the beast right now.

“The pushing is so aggressive with the cars, and the bumpers are round, and the cars don’t take the pushes very well, with the way everyone is sitting on the stops these days. Everyone is going to get more aggressive because you can get there because [the cars] handle so well. It’s just a recipe for disaster. It’s going to happen again, you just hope you’re in the right place and you get through it.”

Knowing the nature of superspeedways, Cindric doesn’t let himself get emotional over these races, believing it could be “counterproductive.” But having led double-digit laps in nine straight superspeedway starts, Cindric is always a factor.

MORE: Cindric blossoming into superspeedway ace

“We’ve led a ton of laps, whether it’s this year or other years and have had really fast race cars,” Cindric said. “Anytime you have that combination, you feel frustrated with not achieving the result that matches the performance.”

Dating back more than a decade, Penske entries have combined to win 10 of the last 21 Talladega races (four of those came from Brad Keselowski). Two of its current drivers have been honored in recent seasons — Logano on Friday evening — by being inducted into the Talladega Walk of Fame. Blaney received the award in 2023.

Posted on April 26, 2025 by Holly Cain

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Ty Gibbs is coming off his best showing of the 2025 season — a third-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway — as he arrives at the series’ biggest track, the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway.

It’s a significant uptick for Gibbs, who has jumped from 34th place in the championship standings three races ago to 20th coming into Sunday’s contest (3 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN Radio, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio) thanks to that Bristol result and a ninth-place finish in the preceding race at Darlington Raceway. It marks the first back-to-back string of top-10 finishes in 2025 for the 22-year-old past NASCAR Xfinity Series champion and first instance since last summer when he scored a third-place finish at Michigan International Speedway and a fifth at Daytona International Speedway.

Most importantly, it shows a notable sign of improvement for his No. 54 JGR Toyota team, which has a new crew chief this year in Tyler Allen and several new crew members. He was the only Toyota driver to advance to the second round of qualifying Saturday at Talladega and will roll off 10th in Sunday’s race.

“For us, I feel the results have shown for sure,’’ Gibbs said of the recent change in tide. “But there is not a time where I’ve felt I was down on my team or was bummed out. I just think it’s part of the process, we have a new team and I think our guys are really good and I have a lot of faith in our guys. There’s a lot of things behind the scenes and everyone makes a judgment call, but I know I can run good and that our team is capable of that.

“Sometimes it takes time, and we’ll get there. I have confidence in our team.’’

Posted on April 26, 2025April 26, 2025 by Dustin Albino

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Being busy is the way of life for Kyle Larson.

He began the week at WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas and sprinkled in a two-day open test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Wednesday and Thursday in preparation for next month’s Indianapolis 500. It was the first time he turned laps in an IndyCar since finishing 18th in last year’s 500-mile extravaganza.

After Wednesday’s open test at Indianapolis, Larson’s No. 17 Arrow McLaren car was scored sixth on the speed chart. Thursday told a different story.

MORE: Full Talladega schedule | See starting lineup

After completing his first full lap at speed in Thursday morning’s session, Larson wrecked exiting Turn 1. The session included extra boost in engines that the teams will apply for qualifying next month.

“It was just unfortunate to get into the wall in practice,” Larson said on Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway, site of Sunday’s Cup race (3 p.m. ET, FOX). “I would rather get it out of the way in April than in May.”

Larson stated on Wednesday that he felt rusty on the IndyCar side. The No. 17 car was tight – oversteer – through Turn 1, not allowing Larson to complete the corner. Following the incident, Larson remained at IMS, chiming in on the debrief with Arrow McLaren. He eased his mind with a workout before checking out Rico Abreu’s race shop and catching dinner.

Larson impressed in his IndyCar debut last year, frequently spending time near the top of the leaderboard, but a late pit-road speeding penalty derailed his chance of snagging an adequate finish. His preparation for the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 double hasn’t shifted from last year.

“I wouldn’t say it differs any from before,” Larson said. “For you guys (the media), I get asked a lot less about it than I did last year. For me, I don’t get too far ahead of myself in preparation and things like that because I have so many races between now and [then]. I think I [will] race 10 more times before I go back in May. I don’t think it’s fair to look ahead too far.”

The countdown is on, however, with only 29 days remaining before Larson makes his second attempt at the 1,100-mile day. He will return to Indianapolis following the race weekend at Kansas Speedway in two weeks for opening day practice on Tuesday, May 13. The series practices each day that week before qualifying on Saturday, May 19. If Larson slots in among the top 12 in speed during qualifying, he will remain in Indy for Sunday’s final qualifying session before jetting to North Wilkesboro Speedway for the Cup Series’ All-Star Race.

In between wrecking on Thursday and getting to Talladega, Larson won the 40-lap World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series race at Jacksonville Speedway in Illinois. He arrived at Talladega late Friday night ahead of the race weekend. He qualified 25th for Sunday’s race.

Posted on April 26, 2025April 26, 2025 by Zack Albert

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Ryan Sparks’ hiatus from atop the pit box lasted all of nine NASCAR Cup Series races. The Spire Motorsports competition director had shed his crew-chief duties in the offseason to focus more on his primary role, helping to shape an organization that’s grown steadily and aggressively in recent years.

Now, at least in the interim after a personnel shake-up, he’s back in a familiar place.

Justin Haley heads into Talladega Superspeedway with a new-look No. 7 Chevrolet crew behind him for Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 (3 p.m. ET FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The team parted ways with veteran crew chief Rodney Childers after the Cup Series’ off weekend, ending their partnership just a quarter of the way through the Cup Series season.

Haley heads into Sunday’s 500-miler ranked 23rd in the Cup Series points, with one top-10 finish (10th at Homestead-Miami) through the opening nine races. That stretch included at least a promising run to 13th place at Bristol Motor Speedway in the circuit’s most recent event, but besides the performance, the 25-year-old driver said the move was an unexpected change, indicating that chemistry was a prime factor in making the move and saying, “it was a fit thing.”

“Nothing super wrong that stood out,” said Haley, who starts 37th in Sunday’s 39-car field. “I think at the end of the day, we’re in the Cup Series to compete, and on a Sunday in the Cup Series, everything has to be right. If one little thing isn’t right, you’re not going to win races, and that’s what we’re trying to do. That’s what Spire is trying to do. They’ve been putting some much time, effort and resources, money, ability, put people in the right places to try to win races. I don’t think they’re scared to do anything to win a race. …

“We had to onload a lot of people, and through that, there’s going to be differences, not direct Lego pieces that go together. I’m thankful for my time with Rodney, who taught us a lot as an organization. He’s a super-great person. I really enjoyed getting to know him and work with him. At the end of the day, it’s a business and just trying to be successful on Sundays.”

Haley said he was notified of the shift after the team’s Tuesday morning meetings, indicating that he did not have input in the personnel decision. Childers had arrived at Spire for the 2025 season after signing a multiyear deal last summer, one of several sizable shake-ups in the organization’s evolving driver/crew chief roster. His credentials were and still are impressive, with 40 Cup Series wins and the 2014 championship with Kevin Harvick. Syncing with a new group was another matter.

“You know, there’s never a good time for this, right? But all I know is us at Spire, we don’t waste time,” Sparks told NASCAR.com. “So we saw or felt what we think wasn’t going to work long-term, and it was really just a fit thing. The 7 just came off a great run of Bristol, so it’s more of just a fit and personality deal moving forward for long term, so we’re looking to the future more than anything. Like I said, not really performance-related or nothing directly related to Rodney at all. His time here was well-spent. We appreciate it and everything like that, but we’re just thinking about the future.”

Spire has seemingly been looking forward ever since it started as a fledgling one-car outfit during Haley’s first stint with the team in 2019. The organization grew to a two-car operation in 2021, then expanded to three full-time cars last season. Haley was phased back in full-time after a seven-race audition at the end of 2024, and Spire signed veteran Michael McDowell as another key piece to the driver rotation. Spire’s longest-tenured driver is relative newcomer Carson Hocevar, who earned Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors last season.

Beyond that, Spire has expanded its footprint in the Craftsman Truck Series. When the organization purchased the assets of Kyle Busch Motorsports in the fall of 2023, it was here at Talladega where team co-owner Jeff Dickerson explained the reasoning behind the move, saying he understood the sometimes-healthy skepticism, but adding: “I don’t know how many more of these deals we have to do before people know we’re for real.”

Sparks referenced that message here this weekend, noting the team’s willingness to take bold measures, but also the seeming urgency to reach Victory Lane.

“We’ve pretty much improved at every race track, but I know for people to take us seriously, we’ve got to win,” Sparks said. “So I mean, that’s all we’re focused on is winning. This is hard. It’s the Cup Series. I mean, we’re racing against the greats and companies that have been in business for over 50 years. So we feel like we’ve hired the right people and put them in the right places to be able to accomplish that quicker than most would expect. It’s not going to be easy, and they’re not going to give it to us. I tell people all the time, they don’t give these things away. You’ve got to want it more than them, you’ve got to work harder than them, so that’s what we’re going to try to do. There’s no guarantees, right, but we’ve just got to stay focused, stay positive, and like I said, we’ve got all the right puzzle pieces in place, and we just … time to rock and roll.”

MORE: At-track photos: Talladega

The crew-chief swap is just the latest in what’s already been a season of change for the No. 7 group. After the seventh race of the year, Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 5 team swapped in four pit-crew members from Spire’s No. 7 bunch, sending a quartet of over-the-wall personnel to Haley & Co. through their pit-crew development arrangement.

“Our relationship with Hendrick Motorsports, we get our pit crews from those guys, so we trust their process,” Sparks said. “The coaching staff over there is great. They’ve got an awesome facility. We’ll go be a part of pit practice whenever we can, for behind-the-wall support, and they’re a big part of our team on Sundays. So we make sure our car suits their needs on Sundays and they can do their job, but yeah, no complaints there. We love that relationship and hey, we ain’t getting any slouches, I can tell you that. So they’re hungry, and they want it more than ever, so that’s pretty exciting to have a mad pit crew.”

Haley was familiar with Sparks from his first stay with Spire, and the two paired together for the final seven races of 2024 — including the playoff race at Talladega. Their bond, Haley says, has clicked back into place, and Sparks says he’d made efforts to help his driver open up.

“He’s just fun and bubbly,” Haley says. “He pushes me to be better, and we had good communication at the end of the season. It was fun yesterday being in the garage and hauler with him and cutting it up. At least I have something I know to expect.”

Sparks noted that 27 weekends remain in the Cup Series schedule, including 17 races before the cutoff for the 16-driver playoff field. That’s where that overriding urgency also stands out.

“There’s one goal, and that’s to put it in the show, so we don’t take it lightly,” Sparks says. “There’s been a lot of movement at Spire and a lot of effort to make these cars faster. I think we’ve seen that a lot on Saturdays (in qualifying), but not carried over to Sundays as much as we would like. So, I’m gonna bring the vibe and we’re going to make it happen.”

Posted on April 26, 2025April 27, 2025 by Holly Cain

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Front Row Motorsports maintained its strong position out front at Talladega Superspeedway with 24-year-old driver Zane Smith convincingly claiming the first pole position of his NASCAR Cup Series career — the third consecutive at the track for his team.

Smith, the 2022 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, will lead the field to the green flag in Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 (3 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at the sport’s biggest track with two-time series champion Kyle Busch starting alongside Smith on the front row — his best start since earning pole position at Dover Motor Speedway last spring.

Smith earned his first pole position with a lap of 182.174 mph in the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford — bettering Busch’s time by a slight 0.132 seconds on the 2.66-mile circuit.

“Obviously a lot of speed,’’ said Smith, who was fastest in opening-round time trials and improved that time in the final round. “Just really proud of how our whole team has been working together before our one-week break [last week], and I feel like that one-week break was perfect not to reset but to digest and think about what we need to rebuild on.

“And now we’re off to a good start for this next long stretch. Proud of the speed and everything we’ve been doing, just need to execute a little bit better but a ton of speed this weekend. Long race tomorrow and a lot of things are going to happen and go on, but obviously we have the speed to do it. We’ll see how it goes.’’

Seven Fords, a pair of Chevrolets, and a single Toyota advanced to that 10-car final round.

Reigning series champion and Team Penske’s Joey Logano, along with Roush Fenway Keselowski’s Ryan Preece, will start from row two.

Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon, RFK’s Chris Buescher, Penske’s Austin Cindric, Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry, Penske’s Ryan Blaney and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs (the only Toyota) rounded out the second-round qualifiers.

Defending race winner Tyler Reddick will roll off 26th in the 23XI Racing No. 45 Toyota. Championship points leader and Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron will start 16th on the 39-car grid.

Posted on April 26, 2025April 26, 2025 by Staff Report

The No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet for driver Justin Haley failed pre-qualifying inspection twice Friday at Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR officials announced.

As a result, car chief Doug Powers has been ejected for the remainder of the event weekend at the Talladega, Alabama track. The No. 7 team will also lose pit selection for Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 (3 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

MORE: Talladega schedule | Race weekend hub

Spire Motorsports announced earlier this week that it parted ways with crew chief Rodney Childers, effective immediately. Competition director and former No. 7 pit boss Ryan Sparks will once again be atop the box for Haley in Sunday’s race and for the foreseeable future as interim crew chief. Childers joined the Spire organization in the offseason after 11 years at Stewart-Haas Racing, which folded at the end of the 2024 season. Spire signed him last July to a multiyear deal, and he began this year working with Haley.

The Indiana native, currently 23rd in points, has a pair of top 10s at Talladega in 10 starts, each coming in the past three races at the track. 2.66-mile facility. His lone Cup Series victory came at another drafting track, Daytona International Speedway, in 2019.

Posted on April 25, 2025April 26, 2025 by Staff Report

See where your favorite NASCAR Cup Series driver will pit for the Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

See where your favorite NASCAR Xfinity Series driver will pit for the Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday (4 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on April 25, 2025April 25, 2025 by Dustin Albino

TALLADEGA, Ala. — NASCAR’s show-and-tell returned on Friday at Talladega Superspeedway, with Jesse Love’s No. 2 Chevrolet rear suspension from Rockingham Speedway last weekend on display.

Eric Peterson, managing director of the Xfinity Series, stood the No. 2 car’s left-side truck arm, the rear-end housing, the U-Bolt saddle and the lowering block. The rule violated at Rockingham was that all the mating surfaces between the U-Bolt saddle and the truck trailing arm were not in complete contact with each other. A significant gap was visible.

With the entire assembly not being tightened, Love had an aerodynamic advantage that eventual Rockingham winner Sammy Smith pointed out from the No. 8 team’s radio toward the end of the event.

“What happens when you go into the corner and all this stuff is not tight is the load on the suspension moves left,” Peterson said, “and the cornering load moves right with the body and will move the right rear of the body towards the wall and adds side force to the car which is where the performance advantage comes from. It skews it out.”

After each race, the top two cars in the finishing order are inspected, along with a random car. The evaluation involves putting the car on jack stands where a feeler gauge (measuring the gap between two surfaces) is entered. If the feeler gauge goes through, NASCAR digs deeper into the issue. Before the race, the rear assembly is visually checked.

Peterson said this was the newest violation that he’s seen after inspecting more than 600 cars since joining NASCAR in 2019. He admitted that the issue could have occurred during the 256-lapper that saw 14 cautions.

“I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily intentional,” Peterson said. “It’s hard to judge whether it was or wasn’t with this one. It came back this way, and certainly there are things you could do to make things like this happen — I’m not saying this happened in this case. It was swayed and an aero advantage.”

Love was credited with a 37th-place finish at Rockingham. Justin Bonsignore was also disqualified for having more than two missing lug nuts.

Posted on April 25, 2025April 27, 2025 by Track Release

Three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano traded his fire suit for a flak jacket as Mission 600 kicked off its 2025 campaign with a visit to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune on Tuesday.

Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Mission 600 is an annual campaign that pairs drivers and regional military bases as a build-up to the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day Weekend. Tuesday’s visit, which also comes ahead of the Marine Corps’ 250th birthday celebration later this year, provided the Coca-Cola Racing Family driver with an immersive day meeting Marines from the 2d Combat Engineer Battalion. The 2d CEB provides close-combat engineer support to the 2d Marine Division in order to enhance mobility, counter-mobility and survivability.

RELATED: Buy Coca-Cola 600 tickets

Alongside Charlotte Motor Speedway president and general manager Greg Walter, Logano learned about the battalion’s explosive ordinance capabilities, including watching the preparation and detonation of 40-pound shaper and crater charges.

Following a tour of the base in a UTV and lunch with a group of Marines, Logano and Walter faced off head-to-head in a heavy-equipment race designed to simulate digging trenches or breaching anti-tank ditches. The pair drove a JCB High Mobility Engineer Excavator (Combat Tractor) and a 30-ton D7 bulldozer to highlight the role engineers may play in combat situations.

“To get to see firsthand, a little bit of how these guys train, one, helps us go back and talk to our race fans to explain that what they are doing for our safety here in America,” Logano said. “But, I also take some stuff back to my race team. I get to see the way these teams work and how everyone works together. What these men and women are able to do, I’m proud to be here with the Marines and proud to be American.”

For leadership at Camp Lejeune, having someone like Logano visit is great for morale, but also for highlighting what these men and women do in service to the Marines.

“I think every Marine that chooses to join has a different path as to why they came here,” said Maj. Nicholas King. “Ultimately, it’s a great opportunity, especially around our 250th Marine Corps birthday celebration, to really capture that legacy and then show that bond to the future Marine Corps and to our civilian counterparts — not just an average civilian, but a NASCAR champion.

“The smiles on the Marines’ faces, actually getting to meet, interact with him and realize he’s just a genuine, down-to-earth person was something to remember.”

At Charlotte Motor Speedway, Memorial Day Weekend provides the opportunity to pay tribute to the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces, particularly those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. With the support of the U.S. Department of Defense, the patriotic Coca-Cola 600 pre-race show includes representation from all six major branches of the military.

“When you think about the commitment that it takes, the discipline that it takes to be in our military, it makes me proud to live in this country every day,” Logano said. “They’re putting their lives on the line for strangers, people that they’ve never met before. How grateful we all should be to be living in a country like this where, we have people that are willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice.”