Defending Coca-Cola 600 winning driver Ross Chastain and team owner Justin Marks visited Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday, continuing an annual tradition for the winners of NASCAR's longest race.
ARLINGTON, Va. — Continuing the annual tradition for the defending winner of the Coca-Cola 600, Trackhouse Racing driver Ross Chastain and team owner Justin Marks visited Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday.
Charlotte Motor Speedway set up the visit to the final resting place for more than 400,000 servicemembers and their families from every major United States conflict since the Revolutionary War.
Chastain joined track president Greg Walter in laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
“Coming up here I was very selfish (thinking) ‘we won the race; we get to come do this. After experiencing this, I realized this is not about me,” Chastain said after his visit. “This is about so many that paid the ultimate sacrifice. They paid the ultimate sacrifice and they lost who they were for us. We don’t know who is in there. It’s a much bigger picture on what that race (the Coca-Cola 600) is and what I didn’t grasp before. I know we’re very patriotic in what we do on the weekend but seeing this brings a whole different meaning now.”
The group also visited the gravesite of astronauts killed in the U.S. Challenger explosion, met members of the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment – known as The Old Guard – and witnessed a changing-of-the-guard ceremony. The ceremony takes place every 24 hours at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier among members of the Old Guard. It began back in 1948.
After visiting the cemetery, several of the dignitaries visited the White House for lunch and a tour. Others visited the U.S. Capitol.
“When you come to a place like this, you really get perspective,” Marks said about visiting the cemetery. “It’s humbling… This is the reason why we get to do what we do. This is why we get to have NASCAR and a Coca-Cola 600, race car drivers and race teams. Sometimes in the sport you get so focused on the details, so bogged down in that last tenth of a second or your whole life can revolve around some small thing that has to do with a race car.
"Then you come to Washington, DC – to Arlington – and you look around and go, ‘this is how and why we get to be able to pursue our passions to make race cars go fast.’ It’s just a great moment of perspective.”
The 67th Coca-Cola 600 is set for Sunday, May 24, at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The track is set to continue honoring servicemembers from all branches of the military with a special pre-race show, servicemembers' names replacing drivers' names on their windshield banners and moment of silence after the second stage break.