ARCHDALE, N.C. — Jerome Davis knows what he speaks of when it comes to bull riding. So when the former world champion points to a bull and begins opining, well, his words carry significant weight.

The bull Davis is talking about now is primarily white in color with black spots and, thankfully, securely inside a pen located on Davis’ ranch little more than an hour north of Charlotte. The bull has an ornery disposition, to the point that anytime someone walks by his pen, he begins to huff, then charges to kick up dirt at the passerby. The only thing this bull lacks is a name, something that will come soon enough.

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“It just happens. There ain’t a special way,” Davis said. “Sometimes it’s based off of something they do. Like if that (white bull with the black spots) keeps digging in that pen and pawing at everybody, his name may become ‘Digger.’ You never know. This bull is just not happy.”

Standing nearby Davis as he discusses the young bull is NASCAR Cup Series driver Austin Dillon. And as Davis speaks, Dillon nods his head processing what Davis is saying.

This is an educational moment for Dillon. He is the general manager for the Carolina Cowboys, one of eight franchises in the Professional Bull Riders Team Series, and he’s intently taking in everything Davis, the team’s head coach, is saying about what characteristics define a good bull and what nuances are required of someone to stay on a bull for a full eight seconds. He admits he has a lot to learn.

“I know enough about bull riding to just get myself in trouble,” Dillon said. “But you can see different guys and how they’re riding, like if they’re riding loose or tight, or if he clamped down right there a little much and had he loosened up he probably even made it eight (seconds). It’s cool to see from a different standpoint that I’ve never looked at the sport in.”

Launched this summer, the PBR Team Series features elite bull riders that compete on teams in head-to-head games across the country. Although the Carolina Cowboys are owned by the PBR, Richard Childress Racing operates the team with an option to purchase it.

Wingson Da Silva came in clutch with these rides to help our Cowboys secure the win. >>>

— Carolina Cowboys (@CARCowboysPBR) September 21, 2022

Spurring Richard Childress’ decision to get involved in the Team Series was the NASCAR team owner’s long admiration for bull riding and his friendship with PBR CEO Sean Gleason. But there were other motives, too, beyond being something he was personally interested in. Operating a franchise also allowed him to place Dillon, his grandson, in a management role to see how he’d do overseeing a professional sports team with the possibility that one day he could take those skills and apply them to running the NASCAR team that has won six Cup championships.

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There are no guarantees that Dillon will ever succeed Childress, who’s owned a NASCAR team since 1969, but the opportunity is there should Dillon prove worthy. And thus far the 32-year-old has proven himself a quick study on what it takes to construct a winning team. The Cowboys presently reside in first place with a 12-7 record, a half-game up on the Arizona Ridge Riders with four weekends remaining in the inaugural season.

“This is a good opportunity for (Dillon) to learn,” Childress said. “He’s impressed me by what he’s done so far.”

As Cowboys GM, Dillon’s duties are similar to what a GM in a stick-and-ball sport must handle. The tasks include managing the rider draft, free agency signings, negotiating with agents, putting sponsorship deals together, devising a training program for the team, scouting the tendencies of the bulls that the Cowboys will be riding in upcoming events, and which Cowboys rider matches up best with what bull. Davis is someone Dillon leans heavily on for advice, but ultimately the decisions are Dillon’s to make.

“There’s times where it gets stressful, there’s times when it’s a lot of fun,” Dillon said. “You’re just trying to build on something, and I think it’s a great training ground to learn how to work with people and how to build a team.”

Like any good GM, Dillon is constantly seeking ways to improve his team. He talks to Davis at least once a day and continually fields calls and texts from other GMs in between his commitments to RCR on the racing side.

On draft day, Dillon concocted a deal to trade for current world champion rider Daylon Swearingen, whose draft rights were held by the Texas Rattlers. After much back and forth, terms were eventually agreed upon. A big smile comes across Dillon’s face as he recalls the machination that landed him the No. 1-ranked rider in the world.

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“The most adrenaline I’ve had as a GM,” he said. “Your heart was just beating trying to get this deal done, trying to stay calm. It was like winning a race.”

Coinciding with Dillon learning the ropes of how to lead a team, he’s also taken on a bigger role in shaping RCR’s long-term future. And like he has on the Cowboys, Dillon has already made an immediate impact.

Upon Tyler Reddick’s surprise announcement in mid-July that he’d be leaving RCR when his contract expired following the 2023 season, Dillon began contemplating how RCR should go about replacing Reddick. From his perspective, there was only one suitable candidate: Kyle Busch, the two-time Cup champion who had reached an impasse in negotiating a contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing, where he raced for the past 15 years.

Sensing an opportunity to replace one talented driver with another, Dillon approached his grandfather to gauge his interest. Complicating matters was that Childress and Busch had a contentious history that included a 2011 altercation between them that, according to witnesses, entailed Childress placing Busch in a headlock and punching him repeatedly until Busch fell to the ground. NASCAR later fined Childress $150,000 and placed him on probation for the remainder of the season.

To Dillon’s surprise, his grandfather was receptive to the idea of Busch joining RCR. He and Busch had settled their differences years prior and signing Busch would go a long way to easing the pain of Reddick defecting to a rival organization. Childress told his grandson to reach out.

Dillon initially approached Busch via text. About 30 minutes later, they spoke on the phone, with Dillon explaining why the team that last won a Cup title in 1994 was a good fit for the mercurial driver who sought a team that would provide him both long-term security and equipment good enough to allow him to consistently contend for wins.

After Dillon convinced the skeptical Busch that RCR’s interest was genuine, the talks commenced from there. The nitty-gritty of negotiating Busch’s contract fell on others within RCR, but without Dillon, it’s possible that RCR would not have made the announcement last week that Busch had signed a multi-year contract to drive for RCR beginning next season.

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“I pushed for Kyle because I thought he was the best free agent out there, and that he was still a free agent was kind of mind-boggling,” Dillon said.

When asked about the possibility that being the Cowboys GM is a precursor to leading RCR, Dillon demurs. Presently, he’s focused on his own racing career — he made this year’s Cup playoffs with a win at Daytona in the final race of the regular season but was knocked out in the Round of 16 — while gradually taking on greater responsibilities within the company as they come. Retirement from racing is many years away, and he has no plans to slow down anytime soon.

But, should the day come that he’s named RCR’s top boss, Dillon will accept the responsibility. He is committed to doing whatever is best for the family-owned team in whatever capacity, adamant about furthering his grandfather’s legacy.

“You never know,” Dillon said. “Right now, I’m focused on driving that No. 3 car and trying to win a championship. I got a three-year contract to win as many races as I can, and I’ve had fun being the GM of this PBR team; currently, the Carolina Cowboys are No. 1 in the standings. So I’ve got those two things on my plate.

“And then when it comes to RCR, that’s where my heart is. It always will be. And if my grandfather says, ‘Hey, I need you to do something,’ I’m going to do it and always have the company in mind first. That’s important to me.”

(Top photo: Chris Elise / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)