Mountain Dew continues Dewey Ryder campaign with new commercial

The fictional driver created by Mountain Dew and portrayed by actor Danny McBride who stepped in to “fill the seat” left empty by the retirement of Dale Earnhardt Jr. has returned in a new ad spot.

NASCAR fans who enjoyed Mountain Dew’s send-off of Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2017 with the introduction of his “heir apparent,” Dewey Ryder, should enjoy the continuation of Ryder’s maturation into his new “spokes-athlete-lebrity” driver role in a new ad campaign.

The ad spot, set to air during the Martinsville Speedway race on Sunday, March 25, is available for fans to view online now. It features Ryder showing off the new self-portrait on the hood of the Mountain Dew car and a fridge stocked with Dew inside the ride. The ad also depicts Ryder on the phone with Earnhardt and doing an interview with ESPN’s Marty Smith.

The thrust of the continuation of the story is that Ryder is past the “changing of the guard” phase of the launch of his career and ready to write his own legacy both in the No. 88 car and as a celebrity spokesperson. This is Ryder’s foray out of Earnhardt’s shadow into his own limelight. Ryder has worked his own personality into the car with not only the self-portrait on the hood, but adding wings to that portrait and replicating that image on the joystick. Ryder’s confidence is so high that he has created his own fan club, entitled “Ryder or Die” for which he has enlisted the likes of comedian Kevin Hart and NBA MVP Russell Westbrook to serve as co-presidents.

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The spot will continue to air on broadcast television throughout 2018 on multiple channels and feature more twists as Mountain Dew’s branding plays off this narrative going forward. It seems that all of Ryder’s plans are working out, as many real NASCAR drivers don’t achieve the level of fame that he has in such a short time.