122c: Corporate Social Responsibility: Niece Motorsports and Wreaths Across America
Background
Supporting the military community has long held personal significance for Niece Motorsports founder and United States Marine Corps veteran Al Niece. For several years, Niece has supported Wreaths Across America through personal donations and participation in the organization's annual wreath-laying ceremonies.
In December 2024, Niece Motorsports expanded that involvement by inviting team employees to participate in National Wreaths Across America Day for the first time. Employees joined volunteers at Historic Salisbury National Cemetery, located near the team's North Carolina headquarters, to place wreaths on the graves of service members.
The experience was eye-opening for the team. As employees moved throughout the cemetery, they saw firsthand that there were not enough sponsored wreaths to place one at every veteran's gravesite.
Rather than allow the experience to end when the ceremony concluded, Niece Motorsports decided to do more.
Working directly with Wreaths Across America, the team established a dedicated Niece Motorsports fundraising program with the goal of sponsoring additional wreaths for the December 2025 ceremony at Historic Salisbury National Cemetery. What began as one day of employee volunteerism grew into a season-long initiative that used the team's NASCAR platform, employees, partners and fan engagement opportunities to raise awareness and support for Wreaths Across America's mission.
The effort came full circle in December 2025, when Niece Motorsports employees returned to Historic Salisbury National Cemetery for National Wreaths Across America Day, this time having spent the preceding season helping sponsor additional wreaths for the veterans laid to rest there.
Objectives and Strategy
Following the team's experience at Historic Salisbury National Cemetery in December 2024, Niece Motorsports set a clear goal for the following year: sponsor at least 100 additional wreaths for the December 2025 ceremony while expanding awareness of Wreaths Across America and its mission.
The initiative was built around three primary objectives:
Increase the number of wreaths sponsored for veterans laid to rest at Historic Salisbury National Cemetery
Create meaningful opportunities for Niece Motorsports employees to remain personally involved in the effort
Use the team's national NASCAR platform to introduce fans, partners and the broader motorsports community to Wreaths Across America.
Niece Motorsports developed a season-long program that would keep the organization and its mission visible throughout the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series season. Working directly with Wreaths Across America, the team established a dedicated fundraising page that allowed donations generated through Niece Motorsports' efforts to directly support wreath sponsorships.
The strategy combined awareness, participation and action. Wreaths Across America branding would travel with the team throughout the season on all three Niece Motorsports trucks, while the team's communications platforms would provide opportunities to explain the mission and encourage wreath sponsorships. Fan-facing activations and incentives were incorporated throughout the year to turn awareness into participation, while employees remained central to the initiative through both fundraising and volunteerism.
The program was intentionally designed to begin and end with hands-on service. The experience of laying wreaths in December 2024 inspired the initiative; returning to Historic Salisbury National Cemetery in December 2025 to place the wreaths the team had spent the season helping sponsor would bring it full circle.
Program Execution
Launching a Season-Long Commitment
Niece Motorsports formally launched its expanded support of Wreaths Across America around Memorial Day weekend, using one of the most meaningful weekends on the NASCAR calendar to introduce the initiative to fans and the motorsports community.
The team announced its commitment through a press release outlining the experience that inspired the program, its goal of sponsoring additional wreaths at Historic Salisbury National Cemetery, and the ways fans could participate. A dedicated Niece Motorsports fundraising page, established in partnership with Wreaths Across America, provided a direct way for supporters to sponsor wreaths benefiting the cemetery where team employees had volunteered the previous December.
Rather than limit the initiative to the Memorial Day launch, Niece Motorsports committed to keeping Wreaths Across America visible throughout the racing season.
Taking the Mission on the Road
Wreaths Across America branding was placed on all three Niece Motorsports trucks throughout the season, carrying the organization's logo to NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series events across the country and creating a consistent visual reminder of the team's commitment.
The on-track presence was supported by ongoing communications across Niece Motorsports' digital and social channels. Throughout the season, the team shared content highlighting Wreaths Across America's mission, promoted its dedicated sponsorship page and encouraged fans to help sponsor wreaths for veterans at Historic Salisbury National Cemetery.
Niece Motorsports also incorporated the initiative into its existing fan and marketing platforms. Fans who provided confirmation that they had sponsored a wreath through the team's program received a discount code for the Niece Motorsports online store, creating an additional incentive to turn awareness into action.
Creating Opportunities to Participate
The initiative was brought directly to fans during Niece Motorsports' annual Fan Day. Instead of simply collecting donations, the team created an interactive fundraising opportunity through a driver dunk tank.
Niece Motorsports drivers volunteered to take turns in the dunk tank, while fans made donations to Wreaths Across America in exchange for opportunities to send them into the water. The activation provided a fun, accessible way to introduce attendees to the cause while incorporating charitable giving into one of the team's largest fan-facing events of the year.
Employees remained central to the program as well. The initiative had originated from their experience volunteering in 2024, and team members continued to support the fundraising effort throughout the year through their own participation and donations.
Returning Where it Started
The season-long program culminated in December 2025, when Niece Motorsports employees returned to Historic Salisbury National Cemetery for National Wreaths Across America Day.
Nearly one year after witnessing firsthand that there were not enough sponsored wreaths for every veteran's gravesite, team members once again joined volunteers in placing wreaths throughout the cemetery — this time after spending the preceding season actively working to increase the number available.
The return to Salisbury completed the program in the same place it began. What started as a single day of employee volunteerism had grown into a yearlong organizational commitment encompassing fundraising, employee engagement, fan participation, national on-track visibility and, ultimately, hands-on service.
Results and Impact
Turning Awareness into Action
Niece Motorsports began the initiative with a tangible goal: sponsor at least 100 additional wreaths for veterans laid to rest at Historic Salisbury National Cemetery. By the conclusion of the program, the team had surpassed that goal, helping provide additional wreaths for the December 2025 National Wreaths Across America Day ceremony.
The result represented more than a fundraising milestone. Each additional wreath meant another veteran could be individually remembered during the annual ceremony, which directly addressed the need Niece Motorsports employees had witnessed firsthand one year earlier.
Building Engagement from Within
One of the program's most meaningful outcomes was the continued involvement of Niece Motorsports employees.
The initiative began because employees participated in National Wreaths Across America Day and were personally moved by what they experienced. That connection continued throughout the following year, with team members supporting the fundraising effort through their own contributions and ultimately returning to Historic Salisbury National Cemetery in December 2025 to once again participate in the wreath-laying ceremony.
Their involvement demonstrated that the initiative had grown beyond a marketing or fundraising campaign into a cause embraced within the organization itself.
Using a National Platform for a Local Need
Throughout the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series season, Niece Motorsports used the visibility available to a professional race team to support a need close to home.
Wreaths Across America branding traveled on all three Niece Motorsports trucks throughout the season, while the team's website, social channels, race-week communications and fan-facing events provided repeated opportunities to introduce the organization's mission and encourage participation.
The initiative also created multiple ways for fans to become involved, from sponsoring wreaths through the dedicated Niece Motorsports fundraising page to participating in the Wreaths Across America dunk-tank fundraiser during Fan Day. Recognizing that Wreaths Across America serves communities nationwide, the team also encouraged fans to find opportunities to sponsor or lay wreaths in their own communities, extending the call to action beyond Niece Motorsports' local efforts in Salisbury.
Niece Motorsports measured its success against the need that inspired the initiative: helping place more wreaths on veterans' graves at Historic Salisbury National Cemetery.
Coming Full Circle
The most meaningful measure of the program's impact came in December 2025, when Niece Motorsports employees returned to the same cemetery where the initiative had begun.
One year earlier, they had arrived simply to volunteer and left having witnessed a need. Over the months that followed, Niece Motorsports turned that experience into action by establishing a dedicated fundraising program, setting and surpassing a goal of 100 wreath sponsorships, carrying Wreaths Across America's mission throughout the NASCAR season, and creating opportunities for employees and fans to contribute.
When the team returned to Historic Salisbury National Cemetery for National Wreaths Across America Day, employees were not simply participating in the ceremony again. They were helping place wreaths that their own efforts had helped make possible.
For Niece Motorsports, the program demonstrated the impact that can result when an organization uses the platform it already has to address a need its people have experienced firsthand. What began with a group of employees laying wreaths became a year-long commitment to helping ensure more veterans were remembered.
