Detore: Mother lode of NASCAR fun for BTS family

In the South, there is nothing more American than mommas and NASCAR.

The two staples of Americana will converge on Mother's Day afternoon, May 8, when all the mommas who are part of the Black's Tire Service (BTS) family — along with all the dads and sons and daughters — will converge at Darlington (S.C.) Motor Speedway to root on the BTS-sponsored No. 38 Ford Mustang at the NASCAR Cup Series race.

It's the perfect holiday pairing for BTS, its distribution arm and the Benton family who operates the dealership — kinda like vanilla ice cream on a piece of mom's warm apple pie.

Between 700 and 800 BTS "family members" and customers are expected to attend the race at Darlington, the second NASCAR Cup Series race where the BTS-sponsored car will appear this season.

"It's an opportunity to give back, get everybody out and get the Black's Tire family to come together and enjoy themselves," Ricky Benton II, vice president of sales and marketing at BTS Tires, told Tire Business. "People are eager to get out after staying inside for the last two years.

"It's a time to take momma to the race and show her a good time."

Whiteville, N.C.-based Black's Tire has had a long, rich history with motorsports sponsorship, particularly with the Gilliland family.

After having supported driver David Gilliland for years, BTS is now sponsoring Front Row Motorsports (FRM) and Todd Gilliland, David's son, a rookie driver on the NASCAR Cup circuit. Black's Tire has been with Todd Gilliland and FRM the past two seasons and is an associate partner of Gilliland's No. 38.

Todd Gilliland said he's "proud" to bring Black's Tire back into the NASCAR Cup Series and wants to "represent them as best as possible. The customers of Black's Tire are enthusiastic race fans who have a proud history in the sport."

FRM has been competing in NASCAR's various series since 2004 and struck gold last year when team driver Michael McDowell won the 2021 Daytona 500. Black's Tire navigated to Todd Gilliland and FRM in 2020.

Todd Gilliland drove the yellow, blue and black-colored BTS car to a 25th place finish in the Toyota Motors 400 at the Richmond (Va.) Raceway on April 3. Denny Hamlin won the race.

Benton called the experience "pretty cool."

"Just to be at level is a pretty big deal," he said, noting that Gilliland's 22nd and couldn't make up much ground on the shorter, three-quarter-mile track.

"To be out there with the Hendricks (Motorsports) and (Joe) Gibbs (Racing) teams, ... for our company to be out there with them, it was pretty cool."

BTS also is sponsoring Tanner Gray for several events during the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Series (NCWTS), including a race April 7 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway and another on Aug. 13 at Richmond Raceway.

Gray, who is looking for his first career NCWTS win in three seasons, drove the No. 15 BTS Ford F-150 to a fourth-place finish at the Daytona NCWTS race on Feb. 18.

Benton said the sponsorship isn't about the money but rather about the relationships that BTS builds not only with the racing community, but more importantly, with its family of 930-plus employees.

"We don't have the mega-funds that a lot of these big companies that sponsor racing teams have," Benton said. "We partner with (Gilliland) in stuff like equipment and marketing and working together.

"To make that kind of an investment (to sponsor an entire season), we couldn't do that. Our belief is that by partnering with them, we are stronger together. We promote it hard to all of our BTS family. It's no different than anything else we do in the community."

Black's Tire isn't the only tire dealership on the NASCAR Cup circuit in 2022.

Discount Tire/America's Tire is a primary sponsor at 13 races on rookie Austin Cindric's Team Penske Ford Mustang. Cindric won the 2022 Daytona 500 under Discount Tire's sponsorship.

Discount Tire also will be the primary sponsor on Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney's No. 12 Mustang for two NASCAR Cup playoff races 2022.

BTS, however, is the lone, family-owned tire dealership to dabble in the high profile, high-stakes NASCAR world.

And there are no sports fans more passionate than NASCAR devotees in the deep South.

As a tire distributor across that very area, BTS and its relationship with the stock car racing circuit is a marriage made in heaven — otherwise called Daytona, the mecca of NASCAR.

"It's all about relationships, and giving back," Benton said. "It's an extension of our culture. We want to show our people a good time and let them enjoy life."

Gentlemen — and mommas — start your engines.