Fox Sports TV motorsports analyst Jeff Hammond, a five-time Cup series champion as crew chief or crewmember, will be the official starter for the double Top Fuel dragster burnout on pit road before the start of the May 27 Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Don Schumacher Racing’s U.S. Army team, with seven-time NHRA Top Fuel world champion Tony Schumacher and teammate Antron Brown with his Matco Tools team, will put on the powerful display on pit road at 5 p.m., about 90 minutes before the green flag drops to start the Coca-Cola 600 that will be broadcast on Fox.

Hammond is the last component added to what certainly will be another of the track's renowned pre-race salutes to the U.S. armed forces before the Memorial Day weekend race.

“This definitely is something I can cross off my bucket list,” said Hammond, who will take a brief break from his Fox Sports duties late in the afternoon on that Sunday. “I’ve always wanted to have the opportunity to get close. I’ve been to a drag race before but never really gotten close. It will be right up there with skydiving with the Golden Knights and flying with the Thunderbirds.

"A gearhead like me could never turn down a chance to stand between 16,000 horsepower and feel that vibration and hear that sound and experience that smell ... that will put me in a pretty unique category.”