FOX NASCAR once again will honor American service members who have fallen in the past year with “FOX Sports Remembers” during Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 race broadcast (live on FOX at 6:00 PM ET).
The tribute, begun in 2009, features a running scroll across the bottom of the TV screen listing the name of every U.S. service member who lost his or her life at home or abroad since last year’s Memorial Day Weekend race. The scroll runs throughout FOX NASCAR SUNDAY, the network’s pre-race show, beginning at 5:30 PM ET, and is shown in its entirety at least once during the race broadcast.
“My grandfather was an Air Force chaplain in France and Belgium during World War II, so it has always been in my family’s DNA to pay our respects to the military,” said Barry Landis, FOX NASCAR’s race producer who brought the concept to life in 2009. “We wanted to memorialize those who have fallen but wanted it to be more than a one-year approach. So, FOX chose a long-term commitment that focuses on those who have fallen in the past year.”
In 2009, Landis, whose grandfather earned a Bronze Star in the Battle of the Bulge, posed his idea to then-FOX Sports SVP of Production Jack Simmons, who worked with the U.S. government to obtain an accurate and complete list of U.S. service members who had fallen in the past year. Since then, the network has worked directly with the government each year to feature the names of all those who lost their lives.
“We have heard from so many family members who lost loved ones, and while their grief still is raw, they are so honored to see their loss recognized,” Landis said. “One year, I was flying home from the race wearing a NASCAR on FOX jacket. A couple who attended the race and had lost their son in Iraq years before asked me if we had run the scroll during that weekend’s broadcast. I told them we had, and they were so touched to know we were continuing it.”
FOX Sports’ Memorial Day Weekend coverage continues Saturday with the NASCAR XFINITY SERIES race, live on FS1 at 1:00 PM ET with pre-race coverage beginning at 12:30 PM ET.
FOX’s live coverage of Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600, NASCAR’s longest race, begins Sunday at 6:00 PM ET with pre-race coverage on FOX NASCAR SUNDAY at 5:30 PM ET. FOX NASCAR SUNDAY offers an in-depth interview with Dale Earnhardt Jr., Logan Lucky actor Channing Tatum on the “Grid Walk” and a preview of the upcoming Cars 3 movie, in which FOX NASCAR on-air broadcasters Mike Joy, Jeff Gordon, Darrell Waltrip and Shannon Spake have roles.
Sunday’s coverage kicks off with NASCAR RACEDAY at 4:30 PM ET on FS1. Featured are a Kaitlyn Vincie sit-down with Kyle Busch following his All-Star Race win; Jimmie Johnson’s visit to Fort Bragg to meet the family of the fallen paratrooper whose name he carries on his No. 48 Chevrolet this weekend; a look at the fallen military members being honored on Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series cars in the Coca-Cola 600; and live interviews with Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth.
FOX Sports PR
