Robert Yates Racing taking Memorial Day to heart

Doug Yates, co-owner of Robert Yates Racing, is donating a portion of his team's winnings from the Coca-Cola 600 to assist in the rebuilding of two parks in Charlotte, N.C., which are being dedicated in memory of two police officers from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police department who died on duty.
The parks are being dedicated in memory of officers Jeff Shelton and Sean Clark. This isn't the first time Robert Yates Racing has raised money for fallen police officers.
"For me this is a personal project that really started with the loss of Officer John Burnette, who was a friend of mine, and killed in the line of duty in October 1993," Yates said. "My dad and I decided to donate a portion of our winnings from the Charlotte race in October of that year to the Police Benevolent Fund. Ernie Irvan was driving for us at the time and he ended up winning the race that night and it made the win even more special because of what we were doing."
Yates said this time he is donating a portion of the winnings from David Gilliland's No. 38 team.
"I am a native of Charlotte and it's very rewarding to give back to those who sacrifice so much for our community," Yates said.
Gilliland, who still has yet to complete a full NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season, finished 28th in the Nextel Open race at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Saturday night and did not advance to the All Star Challenge race.
"Last weekend was obviously a huge disappointment for our team because we believed we had a car capable of finishing either first or second and transferring to the All-Star race," Gilliland said. "Looking at the big picture, at least it wasn't a points race. The toughest part is that it was a good car that we wanted to run in the future so the guys are busy back at the shop rebuilding."