Marine Rides Shotgun with NASCAR Star Jeff Gordon on USO Trip

Growing up in Holland, Mich., Cory Gritter almost always spent Sunday afternoons with his father in front of the television, watching stock cars tear around oval tracks at ridiculous speeds.

Gritter's favorite was the No. 24 piloted by Jeff Gordon, perhaps NASCAR's most polarizing driver.

Years later and nearly 1,900 miles away, Gritter was riding shotgun Thursday when he looked to his left and Gordon -- his racing idol -- looked back and smiled.

"You might want to put your head back," Gordon told him, "or you're gonna get whiplash."

With that, Gordon turned loose the 865 horses beneath the hood of his Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet and spun into a burnout in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip, sending smoke rising over the asphalt and palm trees.

"That was probably the...."

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