Dale’s Pale Ale to sponsor Regan Smith car for Charlotte NASCAR race

A Longmont-based brewer’s flagship beer will sponsor a car in a NASCAR race scheduled for this fall.

Dale’s Pale Ale, which Oskar Blues Brewery markets as the first craft beer in a can, will sponsor driver Regan Smith and his No. 7 Chevrolet in the Blue Cross Blue Shield Drive for the Cure 300, a NASCAR Xfinity Series race Oct. 9 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The track, in Concord, N.C., is a two-hour car ride – assuming one sticks to the speed limit – from Oskar Blues’ brewery in Brevard, N.C.

In addition, according to JR Motorsports general manager Kelley Earnhardt Miller, Dale’s Pale Ale will be presenting sponsor of Smith’s JR Motorsports Upfront podcast on Dirty Mo Radio.

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“It’s great to bring Dale’s Pale Ale and Oskar Blues on board,” Smith said in a media statement released Thursday. “We take a lot of pride in welcoming new partners into JR Motorsports. Not only do we get to carry the Dale’s Pale Ale brand on the race car, but they’re also a tremendous partner for the JR Motorsports Upfront podcast. It’s a fun and informative program, and Dale’s Pale Ale is a perfect fit for that.”

Up Front, the first program hosted by a driver on the Internet station, airs Thursdays and focuses on the Xfinity Series, Camping World Truck Series and late-model teams. Dirty Mo Radio podcasts are accessible free of charge on DaleJr.com as well as numerous podcast-catching networks such as iTunes, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, WeCast and RSSRadio.

“Oskar Blues has been breaking boundaries since Dale’s Pale Ale was first canned in 2002,” said brewery founder Dale Katechis in the media release. “We chose the can package for Dale’s because it protects the beer from light and air, and also because cans are more portable, allowing a great beer to be enjoyed in more places, like the racetrack. We are proud to be associated with Regan, Kelley, and all of the JR Motorsports team and look forward to a groundbreaking partnership.”

In addition to primary placement of its red, white and blue logo at Charlotte, Dale’s Pale Ale also will be featured as an associate partner on Smith’s car for the 2015 season. In 2015 Xfinity Series competition, Smith has scored two top-five and five consecutive top-10 finishes, and currently ranks sixth in the series’ championship points.

It’s not the first race car sponsorship for Oskar Blues. In 2013, the brewery was lead sponsor for driver Landon Cassill and the JD Motorsports team in the Dollar General 300, a race at Charlotte that then was part of NASCAR’s Nationwide Series. Oskar Blues also has sponsored a super late model, a mod coupe and two sprint cars that compete at tracks across the country.

Miller, daughter of legendary NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, co-owns JR Motorsports along with her brother, driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. The elder Earnhardt was killed in a last-lap crash at the 2001 Daytona 500.