For the second consecutive race season, ExxonMobil and Rush Truck Centers sponsored Tony Stewart’s No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) Chevrolet. Both brands were featured on Stewart’s racecar – Rush Truck Centers on the hood and Mobil Delvac 1 on the rear quarter panel and deck lid – for the Alabama 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, which helped to promote a program highlighting the need for more truck technicians and saluted the vital behind-the-scenes professionals.
Before they hit the road to Talladega, Stewart and his No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Mobil Delvac 1 team visited a Charlotte-area Rush Truck Centers location to learn from technicians and helped perform a diesel motor oil change. The visit coincided with a discounted Mobil Delvac product and oil change promotion that was available at all Rush Truck Centers locations nationwide during the month of October.
“As a follow-up to last year’s partnership with Rush Truck Centers, which saluted truckers, it was with great pride that we again spotlighted a collection of unsung heroes crucial to the NASCAR experience and to the American economy – technicians,” said Kai Decker, global motorsports manager at ExxonMobil. “Joining Rush Truck Centers and Stewart-Haas Racing to raise the visibility of these professionals handling critical roles largely behind-the-scenes is a cause worthy of our full support and participation.”
Experienced truck technicians have never been more vital. The American Trucking Association estimates that an additional 200,000 technician professionals will need to be developed over the next 10 years to meet service maintenance demands industry-wide. Concurrently, it is expected that 40 to 50 percent of truck technicians will retire before 2030.
“It’s essential we raise awareness of the importance and necessity of America’s truck technicians so that a new wave of talent can be groomed to keep trucks up and running,” said W. M. “Rusty” Rush, chairman, chief executive officer and president of Rush Enterprises, which operates Rush Truck Centers, the largest network of commercial vehicle dealerships in North America. “The partnership and support of Stewart-Haas Racing and ExxonMobil always ensures that our message is impactful. For that, we’re very grateful.”
“The number of technicians needed over the next 10 years to keep the industry going is truly astonishing, and it’s important that we shine the light on the crucial work they do as we develop the next generation of technicians,” Stewart said. “The average racing fan watching at home may not understand all that goes into making a NASCAR race happen each week. It requires a whole fleet of expert technicians who work wonders before the race ever begins. We’re so thankful for them.”
