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DOVER, DELAWARE – JULY 19: Crew members push the #23 Space Force\/Leidos Toyota, driven by Bubba Wallace in the garage area during a weather delay of practice for the NASCAR Cup Series AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Dover Motor Speedway on July 19, 2025 in Dover, Delaware. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Getty Images<\/p>\n
At Dover Motor Speedway in July, fans saw a futuristic paint scheme scattered among the field. It was one very similar to an earlier livery tied to Star Wars and being raced on a Toyota driven by Bubba Wallace who had also raced that Star Wars themed car last year.<\/p>\n
But this most recent livery paid homage not to something from science fiction, but science fact. This paint scheme featured Leidos and, more curiously, the U.S. Space Force.<\/p>\n
Yes, that Space Force, the youngest branch of the military that most Americans still think is either a Steve Carell sitcom or a punchline involving aliens and weather balloons. But make no mistake: the Guardians, as members of the Space Force are called, are very real, and their mission is as vital as it is misunderstood. Which, as it turns out, is exactly why they showed up at NASCAR\u2019s Monster Mile in the first place.<\/p>\n
You see Leidos wasn\u2019t just slapping the Space Force logo on a racecar for the sake of shiny paint. As Gregory Pejic, VP and Space Account Manager for Leidos, explained, the goal was to connect the public with the very real, everyday impact of space-based capabilities, things like secure communications, GPS navigation, and homeland defense. In NASCAR, those same satellite systems quietly enhance the sport itself, from driver safety and performance analytics to communications and live broadcasting. In other words, the tech that keeps America safe also keeps NASCAR running at full speed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you think about the true purpose about why we’re doing this,\u201d Pejic said. \u201cThe goal is to raise awareness to build appreciation for this critical work happening above, and to show how that type of innovation translates directly and the benefits here on Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n
DOVER, DELAWARE – JULY 20: Bubba Wallace, driver of the #23 Space Force\/Leidos Toyota, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Dover Motor Speedway on July 20, 2025 in Dover, Delaware. (Photo by Meg Oliphant\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Getty Images<\/p>\n
In 2022, as part of a U.S. Air Force sponsorship with the now-defunct Petty GMS Racing, the Space Force logo wasn\u2019t just a decal\u2014it covered Ty Dillon\u2019s entire Chevrolet <\/a>in a full Space Force paint scheme. By contrast, Dover marked a different kind of debut. This time the logo appeared as part of a broader Leidos sponsorship on Bubba Wallace\u2019s Toyota, giving the Space Force visibility within a partnership rather than as the primary branding. For Lt. Col. Brian Dea, Executive Officer to the Chief Operations Officer of the U.S. Space Force, it was still \u201ca world-class opportunity to bring the existence of the Space Force\u2014and really what we do\u2014to a fantastic audience.\u201d<\/p>\n Dea, who attended the Dover race with a group of Guardians, said the fan response was immediate.<\/p>\n \u201cYou saw this tremendous sense of gratitude,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople were humbled, gracious, and glad we were there. Handshakes, hugs\u2014if we\u2019d stayed longer maybe even a kiss or two. The NASCAR fan base is really a beautiful slice of the American public.\u201d<\/p>\n What struck Dea was not only the warm welcome, but also the parallels between the sport and the Space Force mission.<\/p>\n \u201cNASCAR fans are into how the car is set up, how it\u2019s running\u2014the technical aspects of speed, precision, and accuracy. That aligns directly with what the Space Force does in space operations,\u201d he said. \u201cI was standing behind the crew chief as they were communicating with the driver and analyzing the car turn by turn. Well, that\u2019s what we do in space operations too. It requires tremendous precision, care, and engineering to make those systems operate, sustain them, and then use them when needed.\u201d<\/p>\n Lt. Col. Brian Dea, is the Executive Officer to the Chief Operations Officer of the U.S. Space Force. (U.S. Space Force photo by Staff Sgt. Kirsten Brandes)<\/p>\n Space Operations Command<\/p>\n For fans who asked what the Space Force actually does, Dea often pointed to the one thing everyone uses: GPS.<\/p>\n \u201cMost Americans interact with the Space Force every single day, even if they don\u2019t realize it,\u201d he said. \u201cBanking transactions, cell phone navigation, even getting to and from work\u2014none of that happens without GPS. And GPS is a Space Force mission.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that fans connected quickly when examples became more concrete.<\/p>\n