LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) \u2014 Throughout the NASCAR season, Valvoline Global is accustomed to seeing their colors decorate cars fielded by Hendrick Motorsports. This weekend, the Valvoline car has a different look to help highlight Blood Cancer United and its ongoing efforts to fight pediatric blood cancer.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of the therapies that are actually out there today are designed for adults and they’re reapplied for children,\u201d said Jamal Muashsher, president and CEO of Valvoline Global Operations. \u201cThe Dare To Dream Project is a $175 million initiative designed specifically for children’s pediatric blood cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOur efforts are built on our $1 million pledge that we made last year. This is the next step in taking that to a whole another level with our partners from Hendrick Motorsports,\u201d Muashsher added. <\/p>\n
That next level included recruiting four artists to help design a new Valvoline paint scheme destined for the No. 24 Chevrolet at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, known as the ROVAL. One of the artists is Penelope Macaluso.<\/p>\n
\u201cI drew my stuffed animal rabbit with my two cats Olive and Nico,\u201d Penelope explained. <\/p>\n
Her dad Greg said their journey with Blood Cancer United started just a few months into the COVID stay-at-home orders.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe kept spiking a fever,\u201d Greg said. \u201cWe didn’t know what was going on with her. She was kind of starting to turn like yellow-y, and the doctors didn’t want to see her because it was COVID.\u201d<\/p>\n
After spiking fevers for several months, Greg took Penelope back to see doctors for blood work. Just 12 hours after their visit, they received this call saying, \u201c\u2019rush her to the hospital, she’s anemic, she can go into cardiac arrest. We don’t know what’s going on but her blood levels are off the charts awful.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe take her to the hospital and about 24 hours later they diagnosed her with leukemia,\u201d said Greg.<\/p>\n
During her time going through treatments, Penelope had a comfort by her side.<\/p>\n
\u201cRabbit I’ve had since I was like a little baby,\u201d Penelope shared. \u201cHe goes everywhere with me, and when I was in treatment, he had his own IV with me. And my two cats, they’ve been awesome. Every time I would get home, I would just like run to them and hug them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve told so many stories about that rabbit,\u201d Greg added. \u201cThat thing goes everywhere with us. It’s just, it’s a part of our lives. As soon as they said, \u2018Can you do a drawing for the car,\u2019 it was like we knew she was drawing that rabbit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The drawing includes Rabbit, the purple animal, with its arms around the two cats \u2013 Olive and Nico. Penelope signed her name underneath the animals. It\u2019s just one of many drawings placed around the car.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought it was going to be like a little thing on the side of the car, but it\u2019s like the whole door,\u201d Penelope said. The drawing sits in front of the right rear wheel well.<\/p>\n
Penelope and the other artists will join the Hendrick Motorsports team and driver of the No. 24 William Byron at the Charlotte ROVAL for the race on Sunday, Oct. 5. Byron said these visitors will add some energy to the weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it’s just going to enhance it,\u201d Byron added. \u201cIt’s just going to make it more exciting and that much more meaning going into the weekend. For me it’s not much different. I’m just excited to get in the race car and hopefully do a good job for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
During an event at the Valvoline Global headquarters in Lexington, Valvoline employees met Penelope, who signed a few posters, took a few pictures, and sat on stage with her dad and Byron to share more about her design.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe drawing basically says comfort is good to have with you,\u201d she explained. \u201cLike comfort makes you stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI just think she’s very strong and mature for her age,\u201d Byron said. \u201cI mean she’s been through a lot, so I think that that’s inspiration for somebody like myself or really anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s like a little rock star to begin with,\u201d said Greg. \u201cWe’ve always felt that way about her, so now watching her on this stage is kind of, it’s just extra special to us too because she went through so much as a kid. It’s really, it’s really inspiring to see her inspire others.\u201d<\/p>\n
You can catch a glimpse of Penelope\u2019s Rabbit running the race track when the NASCAR Cup Series takes on the Charlotte ROVAL this Sunday, Oct. 5 at 3 p.m. USA Network has the coverage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) \u2014 Throughout the NASCAR season, Valvoline Global is accustomed to seeing their colors decorate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,4505,634,82,4388],"class_list":{"0":"post-181371","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-kentucky","11":"tag-nascar","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-valvoline"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}