125c: Public Relations Program: Niece Motorsports Military Tribute at Naval Base Coronado
Background
Niece Motorsports was founded in 2016 by United States Marine Corps veteran Al Niece. Niece enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1967 and served in Vietnam with the 3rd Marine Division, Lima Company, 3rd Marine Regiment, earning the rank of Sergeant. During his military service, Niece was stationed at Naval Base Coronado in 1968.
In June 2026, as the nation celebrated America's 250th anniversary, NASCAR brought all three of its national series to Naval Base Coronado for a historic race weekend honoring the United States military. The event marked the first NASCAR race weekend held on an active military base and carried additional significance as the United States Navy celebrated its own 250th anniversary. The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series opened the weekend with the Navy 250 on Friday, June 19.
For Niece Motorsports, the historic event carried an even deeper significance. The race marked Niece's first return to Naval Base Coronado in 56 years, creating a unique opportunity to recognize his service while using the team's platform to honor military members connected to the broader Niece Motorsports family.
Rather than make the weekend solely about Niece's return, the team's marketing and communications staff developed a comprehensive tribute designed to recognize the service and sacrifice of military members connected to the organization's employees, ownership, affiliated companies, and partners.
Objectives and Strategy
With NASCAR's historic visit to Naval Base Coronado providing a natural connection to Niece Motorsports founder Al Niece's own military service, the team saw an opportunity to create a tribute that extended far beyond a traditional patriotic paint scheme.
The program was developed around three primary objectives:
Authentically share Niece's story and connection to Coronado
Recognize the service and sacrifice of military members connected to the Niece Motorsports community
Use the team's on-track, digital and media platforms to extend those stories to a national NASCAR audience
Central to the strategy was ensuring the program remained focused on recognition rather than promotion. While Niece's return to Coronado provided the emotional foundation for the campaign, the team intentionally expanded the tribute beyond its founder. Employees, team ownership, affiliated companies, and partners were invited to submit the names of military members meaningful to them, ultimately placing more than 160 names on the bed tops of all three Niece Motorsports trucks.
The communications strategy then connected those personal stories with highly visible on-track elements, owned digital content, proactive media outreach, and at-track opportunities. Three military-themed paint schemes, special crew firesuits, individual name-rail tributes and the shared bed-top recognition transformed the team's physical presence at Coronado into a storytelling platform, while race previews, social media content, media pitching and broadcast opportunities carried those stories beyond the race track.
Instead of creating a single commemorative moment, Niece Motorsports developed an integrated public relations program that allowed its founder's return to Coronado to become a platform for recognizing generations of military service.
Program Execution
Turning Three Race Trucks into a Tribute
Niece Motorsports approached the Coronado weekend with the goal of making every element of the team’s presence part of the tribute. All three entries carried military-inspired designs, while details across the trucks connected the program to individual service members, military families and organizations supporting the military community.
The No. 42 Chevrolet, driven by Tyler Reif, featured a camouflage design representing Niece Equipment and Foundation for Pops. The No. 44 Chevrolet of Andrés Pérez de Lara incorporated a patriotic treatment alongside partner Acceptance Insurance’s Military & First Responder Discounts program. The No. 45 Chevrolet, driven by Landen Lewis, carried a red, white and blue J.F. Electric scheme.
The team introduced the schemes through coordinated social media content in advance of the event. A full-team race advance presented all three entries together, while individual scheme reveals gave each program its own moment and provided additional opportunities to tell the stories behind the designs.
More Than 160 Names, Carried Together
The most personal element of the program appeared across the bed tops of all three trucks.
Ahead of the event, Niece Motorsports invited employees, team ownership, affiliated companies, and partners to submit the names of military members they wanted to recognize. More than 160 names representing the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force were incorporated across the three bed tops, transforming an otherwise traditional piece of race-truck real estate into a collective tribute to generations of service.
The recognition also extended beyond the race track. Niece Motorsports created and shared a dedicated “Honoring Our Heroes” graphic listing every individual represented on the trucks, ensuring the names and the people behind them remained a central part of the story for the team’s digital audience.
Personal Stories Within a Larger Tribute
Within the more than 160 names were stories with particularly meaningful connections to Niece Motorsports and the Coronado event.
A U.S. Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam, Niece was recognized with “SGT AL NIECE” above the passenger-side window of the No. 45 Chevrolet. His inclusion alongside the service members submitted by employees, partners and members of the extended Niece Motorsports family reflected the personal connection at the heart of the entire program.
The No. 42 Chevrolet carried another particularly meaningful name above its passenger-side window: Col. John W. Ripley, a fellow Marine with whom Niece served in Vietnam. Ripley commanded Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines, known as “Ripley’s Raiders,” during his Vietnam service.
In an extraordinary coincidence, Ripley was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on June 18, 2026, the day before Niece Motorsports took to the track at Naval Base Coronado carrying his name.Ripley received the nation's highest military decoration for his actions at the Dong Ha Bridge in Vietnam in 1972, where he exposed himself to enemy fire while placing explosives that ultimately destroyed the bridge and halted an advancing North Vietnamese force.
The timing added an unexpected layer of significance to a tribute that had already been deeply personal for Niece.
Together, those individual stories gave a human dimension to the more than 160 names carried across the three trucks, reinforcing that each represented a person, a family and a story of service.
Carrying the Tribute Beyond the Trucks
The tribute extended beyond the vehicles themselves. Niece Motorsports crew members wore custom camouflage firesuits throughout the weekend, creating a unified visual presence that carried the military theme from the trucks to the people preparing, servicing, and competing with them.
That visual program provided the foundation for a broader communications effort designed to carry the stories well beyond those attending the event in Coronado. Niece Motorsports incorporated the military recognition throughout its race-week communications, including paint scheme reveals, dedicated social media graphics, race previews and at-track storytelling.
In advance of the event, the team also proactively pitched Al Niece’s story and the broader military tribute to NASCAR and broadcast partners, creating opportunities for the meaning behind the program — not simply its visual execution — to reach a national audience.
Media Relations and Earned Coverage
Taking the Story Beyond the Race Track
While the visual elements of the Coronado tribute created a highly visible presence at the track, Niece Motorsports' communications strategy was designed to ensure audiences understood the personal stories behind them.
Ahead of the race weekend, the Niece Motorsports communications team proactively shared Al Niece's military background, his history at Naval Base Coronado, and the significance of his return with NASCAR and broadcast partners. The team also provided context surrounding the broader military tribute, creating opportunities for the story behind the program to reach audiences beyond those who would see the trucks in person or through the team's owned channels.
Those efforts helped make Niece's military service and return to Coronado part of the race-weekend narrative. Niece participated in an interview during practice and qualifying coverage, while his service and connection to the base received additional recognition during the national broadcast.
Creating Opportunities for Personal Storytelling
At the track, Niece Motorsports continued to create opportunities for the story to be told firsthand. The team coordinated an on-stage Q&A featuring Niece and No. 45 driver Landen Lewis, giving Niece an opportunity to speak directly about his military service, his memories of Coronado and what returning to the base more than five decades later meant to him.
The story also generated earned media coverage surrounding the historic weekend. The San Diego Union-Tribune featured Niece ahead of the event in a story focused on his return to the base where he had once been stationed, while NASCAR.com later highlighted Niece's homecoming as part of its coverage of the personal stories that made the inaugural race weekend at Naval Base Coronado unique.
Following the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race, additional media coverage continued the story, with outlets highlighting Niece's return to Coronado and the significance of competing at the base where he had served.
Al practice interview; Broadcast in-race mention (thumbnails of video - linked to YouTube)
Extending the Reach of an Authentic Story
Proactive media outreach, broadcast exposure, at-track interviews, and earned media transformed what could have remained a visual race-weekend tribute into a broader public relations story.
By identifying and communicating the authentic connection between Niece Motorsports, its founder and Naval Base Coronado before the event, the team helped ensure the meaning behind the tribute reached a national audience. The resulting coverage extended the program beyond three race trucks and a single race weekend, sharing a deeply personal story of military service while reinforcing the broader purpose of the program: recognizing those who served.
Social and Digital Amplification
Extending the Tribute Beyond Coronado
Niece Motorsports used its digital and social media channels to extend the Coronado tribute beyond the race track, providing fans with a closer look at both the visual elements of the program and the personal stories behind them.
Content began ahead of the race weekend with coordinated reveals of each of the team's three military-themed paint schemes. Individual graphics introduced the No. 42, No. 44 and No. 45 designs, while a full-team race advance brought all three entries together under a cohesive military-inspired visual identity.
The more than 160 military members represented on the trucks received their own dedicated recognition. An “Honoring Our Heroes” graphic displayed the complete list of names carried on the bed tops, allowing the individuals being honored to remain the focus of the content rather than simply appearing as a design element on the race trucks.
Putting the Stories Behind the Tribute Front and Center
Social content throughout the weekend went beyond showcasing the trucks themselves. Niece Motorsports used video, photography and written storytelling to explain the significance of the program, highlight the military members represented and share Al Niece's personal connection to Naval Base Coronado.
A special video interview gave Niece the opportunity to tell his story in his own words, reflecting on his Marine Corps service and the significance of returning to Coronado more than five decades later. Additional race-weekend content documented the tribute as it came to life at the track, from the military-themed trucks and camouflage firesuits to the individual name-rail recognitions and the more than 160 names carried into competition.
The team's three individual race previews also incorporated the military tribute and the significance of Niece's return, making the story consistent across the organization's website, social channels and race-weekend communications.
Amplifying Earned Media
Niece Motorsports also used its owned social channels to extend the reach of earned media surrounding the program. Interviews and media coverage highlighting Niece's service and return to Coronado were shared with the team's audience, allowing earned storytelling to continue beyond its original publication or broadcast.
Together, the digital program served as more than promotion for three special paint schemes. It gave Niece Motorsports the ability to explain details that might otherwise have gone unseen, recognize the individuals represented on the trucks and connect a national digital audience with the personal stories that made the Coronado weekend significant.
Impact and Results
Turning a Personal Homecoming into a National Story
The Coronado Military Tribute achieved its central objective: transforming a deeply personal connection between Niece Motorsports founder Al Niece and Naval Base Coronado into a broader platform for recognizing military service.
More than 160 military members connected to Niece Motorsports employees, ownership, affiliated companies and partners were recognized, with the complete list of names carried on all three Niece Motorsports trucks competing in the Navy 250. By involving the broader organization in the program, the tribute extended beyond the race team itself and gave members of the Niece Motorsports community an opportunity to personally recognize individuals whose service held meaning to them.
Extending the Story to a National Audience
Proactive media outreach helped carry the story well beyond the team's owned channels. After Niece Motorsports shared Niece's military history and connection to Naval Base Coronado with NASCAR and broadcast partners ahead of the event, Niece participated in an on-air interview during practice and qualifying coverage, while his military service and return to Coronado received additional recognition during the national race-weekend broadcast.
The program also generated earned media coverage before, during and after the event. The San Diego Union-Tribune featured Niece ahead of the weekend in a story centered on his return to the base where he had once been stationed. NASCAR.com later included Niece's homecoming among the personal stories that defined NASCAR's inaugural weekend at Naval Base Coronado, while additional motorsports media continued the story following the race.
Engaging Audiences Through Digital Storytelling
Niece Motorsports' social and digital channels further extended the program, allowing fans to see details of the tribute that could not be fully communicated through the race broadcast alone.
Across [INSERT NUMBER OF CORONADO-RELATED POSTS/VIDEOS] pieces of Coronado-related content, the program generated:
[INSERT TOTAL IMPRESSIONS/REACH] impressions/reach
[INSERT TOTAL ENGAGEMENTS] engagements
[INSERT TOTAL VIDEO VIEWS] video views
[INSERT ENGAGEMENT RATE, IF STRONG] engagement rate
The strongest-performing piece, [INSERT POST/VIDEO DESCRIPTION], generated [INSERT RESULT], demonstrating audience interest not only in the special paint schemes but in the personal stories behind the program.
The team's website further supported the program through three individual race previews incorporating the military tribute and Niece's connection to Coronado.
Impact Beyond the Numbers
While traditional communications metrics demonstrate the reach of the program, its impact was also reflected in the participation it inspired and the stories it allowed Niece Motorsports to tell.
What began with one Marine's return to Naval Base Coronado after 56 years ultimately became an opportunity to recognize more than 160 military members, engage employees, ownership, affiliated companies, and partners, and introduce a national NASCAR audience to the people and stories represented throughout the tribute.
Through a combination of organizational participation, visual storytelling, digital content and proactive media relations, Niece Motorsports transformed its participation in NASCAR's historic weekend at Naval Base Coronado into something larger than a race-week activation. It became an opportunity to use the team's national platform to recognize military service, preserve personal stories and ensure the significance of the weekend extended well beyond the race track.
