On Tuesday night, a driver gave back to both of them.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was the “chauffeur” at Lowe’s Motor Speedway as members of his crew, five grand-prize contest winners from the “Wrangler Take a Test Drive” promotion, top-executives from Wrangler and members of their Public Relations and Marketing firms got the thrill of a lifetime.

Also helping out with driving duties was Martin Truex, Jr., driver of the No. 8 Chance 2 Motorsports. By season’s end, Martin will have carried the Wrangler name on his car twice.

From VF Corporation, parent company of Wrangler, was Mackey McDonald, President, CEO and Chairman. Joining him were John Schamberger, VP and Chairman, Cross Coalition Management of Retail Partnerships and Terry Lay, Executive VP and Chairman of Global Jeanswear Coalition for VF Corporation.

"We had a tremendous response to our new Wrangler Jeans Co. ad campaign that features Dale Jr., but we wanted to do something above and beyond just the campaign - - something that would really bring the Wrangler-Earnhardt partnership to life,” said Craig Errington, Director of Marketing Communications of VF Jeanswear -Mass Market brands. “Our ‘Take a Test Drive With Dale Jr.’ national promotion allowed us to do that.

"We wanted to highlight our relationship with Dale Jr. by offering this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Our five national sweepstakes winners got that chance when they climbed in the seat next to Dale Jr. and flew around Lowe’s Motor Speedway at 185 mph.

"The response to the promotion far exceeded our expectations. We received more than 46,000 entries within a four-week period. The event gave Dale Jr. a unique opportunity to fulfill a sponsor appearance while remaining completely in his element. As you can imagine, his comfort level appeared to be pretty high in that kind of environment."

Dale Jr. gave a very appreciative speech to all involved and how Wrangler has been a part of Earnhardt racing efforts dating back to his dad's early NASCAR championship years. After that, they fired up the engines as Dale Jr. and Martin gave people a ride to remember.

Tony Eury, Jr. is the car chief for Dale Jr. and has set-up many a race car in his tenure at Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Instead of hearing how the car handled, he got to experience it real time.

“That was the first time I’ve ridden around a track of that size with Dale Jr.” Tony Jr. said. “He wanted me to get the feel of just how rough the surface is at Charlotte with the bumps and all. It was pretty cool to feel all that stuff with the way he drives.

“I’ll understand him a bit better the next time he describes something to me. It was cool; he took me right up against the wall. He did a fast lap, just like he’s supposed to.” (Laughs)

For some of the crew members, this was their first experience ever riding around a race track. Such was the case for Troy Prince, rear-tire carrier for the No. 8 Chevrolet of Dale Jr. when he road with Martin.

“It was weird,” Troy said. “First off, you’re on the wrong side of the car riding in the passenger seat while Martin drives. You’re mind is telling you ‘No, No, No, this car won’t make it through the turns’ and you want to abort.

“But, we’re racing along there and Martin is pointing at things while he’s driving. You don’t think you’re going that fast, but I put my hand out the window down the backstretch and it bent it right back.

“When you first come off pit road, you’re going pretty fast as you head for turn 1. Then you go up into the turn with a 24-degree angle. It’s not big for drivers because they’re used to it, but it was something else when I did it. We went from flat to flying at an angle in an instant. As soon as you realize what happened, you’re in the center of the corner then coming off turn 2.”

Joining in the fun were correspondents from TV shows Totally NASCAR, TV Guide Channel, Entertainment Tonight and the Tony Danza Show.