The skies over Lowe’s Motor Speedway might have been dark, but nothing was brighter at the track over the weekend than the colors of red, white and blue.

NASCAR and Lowe’s Motor Speedway did another fantastic job of paying tribute to the men and women who are serving, and that have served, in the Armed Forces during the Coca-Cola 600.

But none was more touching than NASCAR stopping the race at 3 p.m. for a National Moment of Remembrance. For one minute the sound of the 800 horsepower engines were silenced and the 190 mph speeds came to a halt to honor those who have died for our freedom.

Along with the pre-race festivities and memorial tributes, some of the race cars also honored the Armed Forces this past weekend. The most notable was the return of the Jimmie Johnson’s patriotic paint scheme. After a one year hiatus, crew chief Chad Knaus helped bring back the back scheme. This time Knaus had the chance to use some images of the cars his Dad raced to come up with the paint scheme. The No. 48 Chevrolet also featured 12,548 Lowe’s employees who are military veterans or reservists.