A 3 AM text after a Daytona wreck. A funny misunderstanding about the draft. That’s how Austin Dillon met his wife, Whitney Ward. The two briefly crossed paths in 2015, but didn’t exchange any information. Yet that’s all it took to pique Dillon’s interest, who discovered that Ward was a cheerleader for the Tennessee Titans. A whirlwind romance followed, but nine years after their marriage, the veteran driver has added another chapter to the book. In a recent podcast appearance, the #3 RCR driver opened up on how he met the former cheerleader.

Austin Dillon reminisces about how he met his wife

He explained on the Bussing With the Boys podcast.

“When I met Whitney in the first race, I was talking to her, and I tore down the catch fence at Daytona, one of the wildest wrecks ever. The day before, I won the race, won the Xfinity race the day before. During the time, she was kind of talking to me. She ended up being at a lake party and ended up seeing the race I won. Takes a picture with the TV, sends it to me, I’m like ‘Oh yeah, we’re in.'”

The crash he was referring to was his infamous Daytona crash, in which he went airborne and tore through the fence. On the final lap of the 2015 Coke Zero 400, he collided with two cars, and his car flew in the air. It then hit the catch fence and practically ripped it apart. Even the car was fairly wrecked and eventually landed on its roof. Somehow, the #3 driver escaped with a bruised tailbone and forearm.

“The only reason I got her number was this guy in the Truck Series that I used to help. He was on the lower end of the Truck Series, name’s Clay Greenfield, and he had asked different stuff. I said, ‘Clay, I need this girl’s number, cause I saw her at a race and she was working the Monster Energy booth.’ He’s like, ‘Aww, man! I got you! His wife, Tandra, was on the Titans’ cheerleader [squad]. So they get us together, get a phone conversation going. We started texting during that. The next day I text her after the Cup race. It ended at 3 in the morning. I’m like, ‘Hey! I’m okay!’ She’s like, ‘Oh, cool! Did you win again?’ I was just like, ‘No, just turn on the news.'”

According to him, in the following race weekend, she showed up with a friend to watch. As it happened, she knew practically nothing about NASCAR racing. Around that time, Dillon was competing at the Kentucky Speedway, and she thought that he was racing in the Kentucky Derby. It was then that Austin Dillon decided that he liked her. So he felt that it was up to him to bring her up to speed with what NASCAR really is.

The RCR driver recalled a hilarious exchange with his future wife

The scene was at a party on his bus, and everyone was enjoying themselves that night. Whitney and a cheerleader friend were performing their dance routines. The atmosphere was fairly relaxed because Sunday’s race was at night. Then Dillon himself tried to woo her with his own ‘Magic Mike’ dance moves.

Dillon continued, “That night, we ended up starting watching Days of Thunder, cause they didn’t know anything about NASCAR. A little education, and I’m like, ‘We’ll teach you about the draft in Days of Thunder.’ Tom Cruise has got this girl in there, and he’s teaching her about the draft, on her leg with the sugar packets. Before the movie starts, I’m like, ‘You’re going to learn about the draft.’ She’s like, ‘Oh, I know what the draft is.’ I’m like, ‘You know what the draft is?’ She’s like, ‘Oh honey, I know what the draft is, I’m in the NFL.'”

It was probably at that point that Austin Dillon didn’t know what to say. The ‘draft’ has different meanings in the NFL and in NASCAR. He was talking about the aerodynamic slipstream effect on the race track. Whitney was talking about the NFL player draft.

NASCAR drivers dating professional cheerleaders is not entirely new. For example, Denny Hamlin is engaged to Jordan Fish, who is a former NBA dancer. However, Dillon and Whitney definitely have the most unique start to their relationship. Today, they have been married for almost nine years and have two children together. Dillon might have finally taught her the difference between the two drafts.