In the humid stillness of Arlington National Cemetery on Thursday afternoon, #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr., #24-Jeff Gordon and team owner Rick Hendrick solemnly walked down a set of stairs toward the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. They lined up, along with a member of the military honor guard who ceremonially patrol the tomb, and then stepped forward together to place a wreath in front of the giant marble structure. Hands over their hearts, they stood silently amidst the quiet of the cemetery where more than 330,000 men and women are buried. A few minutes later, in the basement of a nearby building just down the hall from the guards’ quarters, the two National Guard-sponsored drivers reflected on the magnitude of what they had just experienced. “I was just nervous,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I get real nervous around appearances, but this one was real heavy. There’s a lot of responsibility, and that was definitely the case for this.” Like Earnhardt Jr., Gordon had never visited Arlington before and said he regretted not doing so earlier. “This is something I think every American should experience,” Gordon said. “The peace, the security that we feel in the safety of our country is because of the men and women here at Arlington.”(SceneDaily)(9-25-2009)
