NASCAR Have Honored These Two Soldiers Who Served at Fort Bliss

This Sunday, NASCAR continued their tradition of honoring fallen soldiers during its Memorial Day race. One soldier that was honored during the 2026 Coca Cola 600, will be First Sergeant Glenn L. Harris, a U.S. Ranger from El Paso. Glenn was a 3rd Ranger Battalion who survived The Battle of Mogadishu (which most people will remember as the "Black Hawk Down" battle).

Glenn tragically died during a training accident on December 4, 1994 at Fort Benning after landing in the Chattahoochee River where he sadly drowned after saving other Rangers during the exercise.

According to KFOX, Sgt. Glenn Harris' name was featured on John Hunter Nemechek's #42 Legacy Club Toyota Camry on Sunday's race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. John Hunter Nemechek finished the race at 26th place, 1 lap down. But at least the car was still running at the end of the race.

This is an incredible kind gesture of Nemechek's team to honor the late Sgt. Glenn Harris & this would be the 2nd time someone in NASCAR has honored a soldier from Fort Bliss during the same race just years ago.

We saw another fallen Fort Bliss soldier be honored during a 2018 NASCAR race

Staff Sgt. Frankie Phillips IV was a native of Meridian, New York who was stationed at Fort Bliss when he was deployed to fight overseas in Afghanistan. Tragically Phillips along with 4 soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb on May 4, 2013.

Over 5 years later, the Hendrick owned Lowes racing team placed his name on the #48 Lowes Chevrolet, driven by Jimmie Johnson at the 2018 Coca Cola 600 where you can clearly see Sgt. Phillips name on the front windshield of Jimmie's car. They even brought the show car back to Ft Bliss before the race where Phillip's family saw the car in person.

In case you're wondering Jimmie Johnson would bring the special #48 to a top 5 finish at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course; he would end up finishing in 5th place.

We thank NASCAR for honoring Staff Sgt. Frankie Phillips IV back in 2018, First Sergeant Glenn L. Harris in 2026, and of course every single fallen soldier that had their name memorialized on a race car.

If you want to see more of El Paso highlighted in NASCAR, you can read about how the entire CITY had been honored during one of its biggest races here.

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