NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Austin Dillon spent Wednesday evening making a guest appearance at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina, for his Sprint Cup sponsor, Dow.
That is part of his job.
However, thanks to his newest sponsorship tie with Pottsville brewer D.G. Yuengling & Son Inc., Dillon will get a chance to relax in a way only racers can.
"Oh, man, it's a blast," Dillon said about his appearance in August in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Pocono Raceway. "I love to go around in the trucks. After Sunday and hopefully having a good race, it's great to run the truck. They are short races and you can have some fun on the restarts."
Richard Childress Racing announced Wednesday that RCR and Yuengling will team up to support Dillon in the Pocono Mountains 125 truck race Saturday, Aug. 2, at the Long Pond superspeedway.
"I spent a lot of time racing in the truck series, so it's like a homecoming anytime I get to go race with those guys," said Dillon, who earned Rookie of the Year and series championships back-to-back in 2010 and 2011 in the truck series, in a press release.
Speaking by phone from Charlotte after the announcement, Dillon said the truck series has become a welcome diversion in the lengthy 36-race Sprint Cup schedule. In two appearances in trucks for different teams this season, he has a pair of top-10 finishes.
On Aug. 2, Dillon will be racing for his Sprint Cup car owner, Richard Childress, who also happens to be Dillon's grandfather.
The opportunity to display the Yuengling logo on a truck might have gone to Austin's brother, Ty. He carries the Yuengling Light Lager brand as title sponsor on his Nationwide Series car fielded by Childress in eight races as part of a one-year deal with the brewery.
However, Ty Dillon is racing in the Nationwide Series the same day.
"It's a bummer," Ty Dillon said by phone Wednesday night. "I would have loved to race for Yuengling, but we already have our race at Iowa."
Instead, the ties between Childress and Yuengling extend another level.
"We enjoy working with RCR and Ty Dillon, and as a sixth-generation family business, we look forward to adding Austin Dillon to our racing family," D.G. Yuengling & Son, Inc., chairman Richard L. "Dick" Yuengling said in the press release.
Therefore, Austin will precede his Sprint Cup appearance in the GoBowling.com 400 the next day by racing a new Chevrolet Silverado with the number 3, Austin's number in Sprint Cup and the number made famous by the late Dale Earnhardt. Dillon has campaigned that number previously in both the Camping World Truck and Nationwide Series and has won championships in both.
"It's the first time RCR has come out with a truck with the new style body," Austin said of the August race... (It will be) a little bit (of an adjustment), but I've run a few races this year and I have experience in truck races."
Austin said it is likely Nick Harrison will serve as his crew chief in the August race. Austin said he and Harrison previously worked together at Phoenix Racing, but Harrison now serves as crew chief for Childress' Nationwide Series team of driver Cale Conley.
The one-time pairing of Harrison and Austin Dillon in August and the truck itself may be new, but Dillon has the advantage of good finishes at Pocono. It has held Camping World Truck Series races for the past four years. In the first two events in 2010 and 2011, Dillon placed seventh and fifth, respectively.
Austin said the key is applying a different strategy, though he said the setups for both the truck and Sprint Cup cars require a compromise to handle the three differently banked turns of Pocono. While he said fuel mileage will likely determine the Sprint Cup winner both Sunday and in August, he said the truck race, which will last only 50 laps, is all about speed.
"You're never going to have a perfect handling car there," Austin said about Pocono. "You set up for one corner and the banking. You've got to carry momentum even more than in a Cup car."
Austin may know how the racing pans out, but his ties to the Yuengling brand will be new. He expressed an eagerness to learn all about it.
"I think Yuengling already has a race fan base," he said, "so becoming part of that partnership is awesome. They have great beer. Being the oldest brewery in the U.S., it's pretty awesome. I'm proud to be representing them at Pocono."
Ty Dillon said his own work with Yuengling has included numerous personal appearances, and he added: "They do so well in the states that they're sold. The company has so much American history and it's still on the rise."
Now Ty Dillon's brother will learn all about that history, and he's prepared to represent the brand in August.
"I'm pretty much one of those fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants guys," Austin said. "I'm sure I'll do some things for them, maybe an autograph session. It'll be cool to meet the employees."