NASCAR has had a long standing relationship with America’s military and in recent years, drivers have made trips to military installations to get a closer look at how some things are done and even joining in on the training.

On April 29, “The Melon Man” Ross Chastain made a visit to Arlington National Cemetery where he laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Chastain recounted his visit to the nation’s National Military cemetery saying, “when we turned in, we met out front here, got the SUVs and rode into the gate, and it just felt like a different world to think about what this property was when this started, and what it has amassed into, and how many graves there are here, and what that signifies across the history of this country — absolutely surreal. I can’t grasp what it is behind those gates and how special they made that whole ceremony for us.”

Currently Arlington National Cemetery has over 400,000 “residents” across it’s 639 acres.

Along with his visit to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier; Chastain, Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks, and their family members visited the astronauts memorial – dedicated to the astronauts from the Columbia and Challenger missions and  the tomb of the most decorated soldier in World War II – First Lieutenant Audie L. Murphy,

At the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and watching the Changing of the Guard; Chastain said, “I was more nervous for that than a Cup race on Sunday, for sure.  I (had) clammy hands, sweating. I mean, it’s a cool day, perfect day to be in a suit and my socks got a little wet there. Just nerves to walk the steps and to stay in sync with the guard, listening to them and then prepping us, you realize how thought out all this is, how long they’ve been doing this no matter the weather. We were here on a day where we were very questionable about what kind of weather we were going to get. We knew we were going to be there rain or shine.”

Justin Marks put things in perspective saying,“to walk down those steps and to hear ‘Taps,’ it’s emotional. It’s really, really emotional.  It’s heavy, but it’s an honor and it’s just really humbling. I had this moment there thinking it’s amazing that we’re here because of race cars, because of something so inconsequential and meaningless as a race car. We’re meaningful in that we’re entertaining people, we’re inspiring people and we’re supporting our families by finding lines of work that we’re good at and passionate about. It was just a great, humbling moment.”

The eight generation watermelon farmer from Alva, Florida noted, “my grandparents are here. Meemaw, my granddaddy on my dad’s side — a very incredible experience for them to get on a plane, leave Alva and come up here.  It’s tough for them and I’m thankful that they made the trek, and my family for helping them get here. They’ve never booked an Uber, never ridden in an Uber before, and they’re jumping in cars and buses to get here and a plane to fly up. Really thankful for the group that came up. It means more when they’re here.”

NASCAR runs the longest race of the season – the Coca-Cola 600 – each year on Memorial Day weekend – a date that is circled on every NASCAR calendar.

Last year Ross Chastain ended his Coca-Cola 600 by smashing a watermelon on the start/finish line (his win celebration).  Owner Justin Marks notes, “I think going back as defending winners, after having days like this in Arlington, it’s going to put some wind in our sails.  We’ve got a lot of work to do right now in our company to build faster race cars. Because of all the lean-in content, the tune-in stuff, it’s imagery of your team winning, of you winning the race and so you’re sort of inundated with this imagery of what a year prior meant for your company. This Coke 600 truly is one of the greatest wins, if not the greatest win that we’ve had in the history of the company.”

He concluded, “we know going into the 600, we’ve got a driver that can win, we’ve got a team that can win and hopefully we’re back here a year from today.”