Alon Day will be driving for more than just a shot at Victory Lane on Saturday as the NASCAR Xfinity Series race heads to Chicago for its street race.
Day, the only Israeli driver in the NASCAR ranks, will pay tribute to those still held captive by Hamas following the Oct. 7 terror attacks. Day will drive the No. 45 Chevy Camaro for Alpha Prime Racing and Jet Support Services Inc. (JSSI), with Setna iO as a sponsor.
The four-time EuroNASCAR champion told Fox News Digital that he has five friends who are among the 116 people still believed to be held captive by Hamas.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
Alon Day receives his championship ring during the NASCAR Touring Night of Champions at the Charlotte Convention Center on December 8, 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
“I think I'm more motivated than ever. I've won the Euros four times and I've always done it for my own success,” Day said. “Like all of us, we're human. We try to be the best we can be. We try to win.” [championships] for us.
“I think this time something a little [changed] in me – doing that not just for myself but actually for the whole country, for the hostages, obviously for the [Israeli] “The soldiers, the Jewish community in general here in the United States… I'm motivated by something else, the war, my friends who are still kidnapped. This is what really drives me to strive to do even better.”
This is the second year the NASCAR Xfinity Series will host the street race in Chicago.
Day, who is from Ashdod, Israel, said he believes anti-Israel rioters made Chicago's streets dangerous.
“The pro-Hamas protests on the streets, especially on the streets of Chicago, are getting really dangerous. I was there a couple of days, about a week ago, and I felt the need to check that I wasn't wearing anything that would identify me as Jewish,” he said. “It's that bad. It's like Germany in the 1930s, when I need to hide my Jewishness.”
Day's car will feature a livery with the JSSI logo in blue and white (the colors of the Israeli flag). It will also bear the Hebrew word for life, חי, in tribute to those who are held captive.
Alon Day, center, will be driving for more than just a chance in Victory Lane on Saturday. (Goran Kovacic/Pixsell/MB Media/Getty Images/File)
Neil Book, CEO and president of JSSI, said it was “shocking” to see students on American campuses expressing support for Hamas in recent months.
FORMER PATRIOTS STAR JULIAN EDELMAN, WHO IS JEWISH, SPEAKS OUT ON 'HERMIC' ANTISEMITISM: 'IT'S A SAD TIME'
“I was shocked not only to see that surge of hate and anti-Semitism in the United States, but that it came in response to the worst attack on Israel and the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” he told Fox News Digital. “I feel a little embarrassed by my own naivety. I didn't anticipate that kind of response from forces within the United States and around the world.”
Day said he hopes to educate those who don't know what's really going on in the region.
“We want to make more people aware of what's really going on,” he said. “A lot of people don't really know and have comments.” [But] It's like I'm commenting on America and Vietnam, as if I'm doing something that has nothing to do with you, and yet you keep commenting when you have no idea. [about] What's going on and [not] I'm even educated enough to be able to comment on that.
Day said it was “crazy” to see people supporting Hamas, comparing it to someone showing support for Osama bin Laden after 9/11.
He added that unless you were in Israel on October 7 or lived in the country in general, you have no real idea of what is happening in the region.
“A lot of times, I think people are just missing out on education and just following TikTok, social media, that they've just been brainwashed,” Day explained. “I think the biggest example, in my opinion, is when you start seeing LGBTQ people or queers for Gaza, for Palestine, whatever, it's like chicken for KFC. That's how crazy it is.”
Alon's Day (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images/File)
“In Palestine they don't even know what it means to be gay. It's not acceptable. You'll be dead. This is just a small, small idea of how uneducated people [are] here.”
Day will be competing against some of the top drivers in the Xfinity Series, which could make it harder to see the Winner's Circle come mid-Saturday.
Book said having Day in Chicago, given the recent rise in anti-Semitism he's seen in the city, and competing with the Israeli flag behind him is an accomplishment in itself.
“The fact that Alon is here, running with the Israeli flag behind him, makes me think that he already wanted to achieve something just by being here,” Book told Fox News Digital. “But I know Alon. The guy is a competitor. He's not competing for second place.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“I think if you ask him, anything other than a win is probably not ideal. But for me, I think just the fact that he's here means a lot. I'm thrilled that he's here. I'm thrilled that he's racing. And I'm excited to see him racing here on Saturday.”
Follow Fox News Digital Sports coverage on X and subscribe to The Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
