Austin Dillon to run Cup race for Phoenix Racing at Las Vegas

Austin Dillon

Austin Dillon will drive Phoenix Racing’s No. 51 car in the Sprint Cup race at Las Vegas March 10 with sponsorship from Tag Heuer Eyewear.

While Regan Smith and AJ Allmendinger are expected to share driving duties in the car this season, the sponsorship allows Dillon to drive the car at Las Vegas as he prepares for a possible full-time Cup ride for Richard Childress Racing in 2014. Dillon and his younger brother, Ty, both have Tag Heuer personal services contracts. Initially, Tag Heuer was talking to Phoenix Racing about sponsoring Ty in the Nationwide race at Daytona, but when Spartanburg, S.C., company Guy Roofing wanted to sponsor both the Nationwide and Cup races at Daytona, the sponsorship moved to the Cup race at Vegas, Austin Dillon said.

The race weekend at Vegas includes an extra day for testing, which will help the 22-year-old Dillon, who has two career Cup starts and plans to run the Daytona 500 for RCR.

“I’m looking forward to it," Dillon said. “(Phoenix Racing’s) James Finch is a great car owner. A lot of great drivers have driven for him.

“I’m looking forward to getting that experience. NASCAR is giving us that long test day and it will be good to work with those guys for a full day before we go into the real practice and race."