Alon Day, a Jewish NASCAR Driver, is the First Israeli in the Series’ History

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Alon Day played game simulators for much of his training as a stock car driver.

For Alon Day, the race car driver from Israel, his rapid rise to the dizzying top ranks of NASCAR was an unbelievable one. There were good reasons for this. One prominent reason is that the 25-year-old Ashdod brought up has done a major portion of his training solely on computer screen simulators.

Alon Day, a Jewish NASCAR Driver, is the First Israeli in the Series’ History[/tweetthis]

On June 25, Alon Day was the first Israeli in NASCAR history to compete in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series[/tweetit]. Day blazed the Sonoma Raceway track in the number 23 car for BK Racing and for NASCAR, Day came as a welcome surprise. Even though the organization has made multiple efforts to diversify contestants' profiles, the drivers and their fans continued to remain majorly Christian and white. In contrast, Day is a person who is not afraid to flaunt his Jewish and Israeli identities. On Sunday his car donned Israeli flag stickers and he wore Stars of David on his racing suit. Day has previously driven a car which had a prominent Anti-Defamation League (ADL) sticker, even though the ADL was not a sponsor of his vehicle.

Day's life story contains a number of disparate elements held together by tenuous strings. His life's tapestry is made with go-kart experiences in Israel, and a huge amount of time playing computer games. It also involved the many tries of a Florida attorney-David Levin-  trying to push a Jewish driver to NASCAR mainstream.

His childhood was spent in Ashdod. His preliminary knowledge about NASCAR came to him while driving virtual cars in video games like Grand Prix Legends. Israel has not seen much motor sports activity, primarily as an after effect of an ancient British Mandate law. The law, enacted during British rule of Palestine, stated that any car used for any other purpose than commuting will be promptly scrapped.

The U.S. NASCAR opportunity for Day was unimaginable even a few days before. After spending a substantial portion of his time in Europe, doing GT and Formula racing, the absence of sponsors pushed him off track in 2015. He even considered quitting the profession. He said, “NASCAR changed my life. Somehow, I got the opportunity to test in European NASCAR and it went the best way (it could), and two and a half years later, I’m doing my first race ever in the Cup. So it’s something pretty remarkable for me, and every time I think about it, it’s just crazy.”

Ron Devine, the owner of BK Racing said, “Alon is a great road course driver. He has been successful in other series around the world,” and deserved his run in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Day finished the day in 32nd place.

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