Mission accomplished. Ahead of the Coca-Cola 600 each Memorial Day Weekend, Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Mission 600 set out to honor the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces by pairing Coca-Cola Racing Family and other drivers alongside units from different branches of service. Defending Coca-Cola 600 winner Christopher Bell and fellow Coca-Cola Family Racing drivers Joey Logano, Daniel Suárez, Austin Dillon and Chase Elliott visited regional military bases to educate the NASCAR community about the day-to-day lives of the men and women who serve. The campaign included visits to Camp Lejeune, Fort Bragg, Arlington National Cemetery, Naval Station Norfolk and U.S. Coast Guard Station Wrightsville Beach.

Mission 600 serves as a prelude to Charlotte Motor Speedway’s patriotic pre-race salute to the troops prior to the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day Weekend. With representation from all six branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, the salute embodies the patriotism and service of the nation’s men and women in uniform.

“With Mission 600, the idea was to take the athletes of our sport and put them in different situations – active situations – with members of the military across different branches,” said Charlotte Motor Speedway President and General Manager Greg Walter. “But this is not just one of those show pony things where you come in, you do some cool stuff and you go home. There are relationships built. That’s the meaningful aspect of what we do with the Coca-Cola 600 and Mission 600.”

Here’s a recap of each of this year’s visits:

Joey Logano Visited Camp Lejeune (April 8)

Ahead of the Marine Corps’ 250th birthday celebration later this year, Logano visited Marines from the 2d Combat Engineer Battalion. 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.

Daniel Suárez Trained at Fort Bragg (April 23)

During his visit, Suárez spent the day learning about the equipment and training that paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne receive. With coaching by the 3rd Brigade Combat Team and 16th Military Police Brigade, the Trackhouse Racing driver strapped on parachutes and gear, then leaped from the installation’s 34-foot jump tower. Suárez also participated in live-fire exercises, learning weapons systems ranging from grenade training to firing the M4 Carbine and a Howitzer, a 105mm weapon that uses a six-man team – much like a NASCAR pit crew – to aim and fire. He finished the day behind the controls of two helicopter flight simulators.

Christopher Bell Laid Wreath at Arlington National Cemetery (April 30)

As part of its annual tradition for the defending Coca-Cola 600 race winner to kick off Military Appreciation Month, Christopher Bell, his wife, Morgan Bell, and team president Dave Alpern visited to Arlington National Cemetery, the final resting place for more than 400,000 servicemen and women and their families from every major United States conflict since the Revolutionary War. Building up to the historic 66th running of the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend, Bell joined Speedway Motorsports Chief Operating Officer Mike Burch in laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington, Va. and later toured the Pentagon.

Austin Dillon Toured Naval Station Norfolk (May 7)

Dillon, alongside Richard Childress Racing pit crew coach Ray Wright, tested his prowess in the Navy’s state-of-the-art simulators, toured the expansive USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) and donned firefighting gear in a simulated emergency response exercise. After eating lunch with sailors aboard the USS Cole (DDG 67) - which was bombed in a 2000 terrorist attack in Yemen - the group capped the day visiting the station’s USS Cole Memorial. The memorial honors the 17 fallen sailors who were lost to that attack 25 years ago. The USS Cole has since been repaired and returned to service, recently returning from its latest combat deployment.

Chase Elliott Explored U.S. Coast Guard Station Wrightsville Beach (May 13)

Ahead of National Boater Safety Week, Elliott toured the U.S. Coast Guard Station Wrightsville Beach, part of U.S. Coast Guard Sector North Carolina, whose primary missions range from Search and Rescue, Marine Safety and Ports and Waterways Coastal Security to Marine Environmental Protection, Aids to Navigation, Maritime Law Enforcement and Recreational Boating Safety. The Hendrick Motorsports driver participated in a mock search-and-rescue mission, de-watered a simulated vessel in distress and took the helm of a 45-foot Response Boat-Medium (RB-M) before dining with sailors and learning more about their missions, training and history.

TICKETS:

Log on to www.CharlotteMotorSpeedway.com for tickets, schedules and more information on the weekend’s three days of action-packed racing. Kids 12 and under get in FREE on Friday and Saturday.