(QUEEN CITY NEWS) – NASCAR and the Coca-Cola 600 honor our military men and women as well as anybody. If not the best. Part of that is the Mission 600 tour – when drivers go to a military base to thank our heroes face to face.
I got to go along with Daniel Suarez and his crew chief Travis Mack to the coast guard in Wrightsville Beach this week.
Even when piloting a 45-foot response boat – Suarez is looking to take left turns and go fast.
Suarez isn’t an American citizen – he was born in Mexico. Suarez knows the American military has provided him with the opportunity to live the American dream.
“I’ve been enjoying the freedom and everything this country can provide to immigrants like myself,” said Suarez. “I’ve been living here for 10 years I am super grateful. I am very happy to be here. I am very thankful for the men and women who work and the dedication they put out there to have the lives that we do.”
“It’s been a great experience to get to see the ranks in the military and how they do their everyday operations is really impressive,” Mack added. “Hopefully we can take something from this day, and we can pertain it to our race team and we can be a better race team because of it.”
The Coke 600 is the pinnacle of American pride. Putting our military center stage. Drivers even honor a fallen hero on their windshield on race day.
But to get to meet the drivers in person takes things to a personal level for both sides.
“It’s a cool thing. Especially in the Coast Guard, I think sometimes we get left behind a little bit,” said Jason Miller. “So it’s nice to see a whole race devoted to honoring the men and women who served before and that are serving now and to be featured like this it’s a neat thing to have that attention paid and to show people what we do on a daily basis.”
Denny Hamlin, Austin Dillon, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick and Kurt Busch will all be visiting military bases this year as part of Mission 600.
Read More: NASCAR driver Suarez eager to thank military heroes face-to-face