Courtesy of Texas Motor Speedway Media Relations
FORT WORTH, Texas – NASCAR teams in all three national series will honor the state of Texas following the devastation from Hurricane Harvey with “Texas Strong” decals for all the race vehicles competing this weekend.
The decal, which is located on the A-post that extends from the roofline to the base of the windshield on the majority of vehicles, will be utilized this weekend for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and XFINITY Series races at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway and the Camping World Truck Series event at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Ontario, Canada. The decal could possibly return when all three national series return to Fort Worth and Texas Motor Speedway for the AAA Texas 500 tripleheader race weekend scheduled for Nov. 2-5.
Brennan Poole, who will be competing in Saturday’s XFINITY Series race for Chip Ganassi Racing, is a native of The Woodlands, which is 30 miles north of the city of Houston.
“Houston is my home,” Poole said. “It’s tough to see all of my friends and family and my cousins and uncles and everybody battling with the disaster down there. We’re doing a food bank this week at the Ganassi race shop and anyone is welcome to come by and donate food or money to the cause. We’re working together as a group to help those in need.
“Like I said, it’s my home, I grew up there. It’s my city and I want to do everything I can to support and help these families in need.”
NASCAR has begun an industry-wide drive for donations through its NASCAR Foundation. Donations through The NASCAR Foundation www.nascarfoundation.org will help provide truckloads of disaster relief supplies, such as bottled water, ready-to-eat food, hygiene items and more through the Foundation’s support of children and families being directly impacted by the storm.
It is “Throwback Weekend” at Darlington, but a few Cup teams made last-minute paint scheme changes to honor those affected by the disaster. Team Penske and sponsor Shell-Pennzoil announced that Joey Logano’s No. 22 Ford will now have a Red Cross paint scheme for Sunday’s Southern 500. Also, Shell pledged $1 million to the Red Cross and Logano another $25,000 for disaster relief.
Rick Ware Racing scrapped the original throwback paint scheme on son Cody Ware’s No. 51 Chevrolet. The car still resembles the one Tom Cruise drove in the movie Days of Thunder, but “Pray for Texas” is now across the hood and sides in a 24-hour turnaround. Owners Rick and Lisa Ware, high school sweethearts from the Houston area, had several family members that were forced to evacuate and also found out that both of their high schools were under water.
NASCAR XFINITY Series driver Elliott Sadler, who has friends in the Houston area, announced Friday that he will donate his portion of his race winnings from Saturday’s race at Darlington to the relief fund efforts. (Watch Sadler discussing Hurricane Harvey relief efforts.)
Texas Motor Speedway is in the midst of finalizing a Hurricane Harvey Donation Drive next Thursday and Friday at the speedway. The drive would become a primary drop-off area for Fort Worth-area residents looking to help out the relief efforts for essential items for those affected. Further details will be announced early next week.
