Food City is gearing up for Friday’s running of the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway, one of the most popular events in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Earlier today, company officials announced that Chief Meteorologist Dave Dierks will serve as the event Grand Marshal, delivering the starting command for Friday night’s clash.

"What an honor to be asked to be the Grand Marshal of the Food City 300!” said Dierks. “This is a first for me, and I am SO thrilled to be part of the excitement and great racing that the World's Fastest Half-Mile is famous for!!

Dave Dierks is Chief Meteorologist for News 5, WCYB-TV. His fascination with all things weather started as a youngster growing up in a small farming community in Iowa. Upon receiving his meteorology degree from Iowa State University, Dave arrived in the Tri-Cities in 1987. He fell in love with the mountains and its people immediately - and never looked back! Dave met his wife, Natalie, at WCYB shortly after arriving to Bristol. They feel extremely blessed to have raised their two wonderful children, Austin and Taylor, in the family-friendly Tri-Cities.

Randy Skoda, president and chief executive officer for Topco Associates, LLC. will serve as Honorary Starter, waving the green flag to unleash the pack. 

“I’m excited to serve as Honorary Starter on behalf of the Topco membership, showing support for an organization like Food City, who has done so much for the membership,” Skoda said. “For nearly 30 years, Food City has been an integral voice of the cooperative, keeping their shoppers’ wants and needs at the forefront of their initiatives and decision-making process.”

Topco Associates, LLC. is a privately held, member-owned company that provides aggregation, innovation and knowledge management solutions for its leading food industry member-owners and customers, including grocery retailers, wholesalers, food service and pharmacy companies. As a key voice of Topco’s leadership team for nearly two decades, Randy served as executive vice president prior to the appointment of his current role in 2011.

Topco supports 46 member-owners, including Food City, which has been a member since 1995. Additionally, one of the various avenues in which the cooperative supports its owners is with the procurement of 20 own brands exclusive to the membership, including Crav’n Flavor, which will be sponsoring DGM Racing and Kyle Weatherman’s car during Friday’s Food City 300 as well as next week at the Kansas Speedway.

Food City is the title sponsor of the spring NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500 and of the fall Food City 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race. Celebrating over 30 years of racing, the supermarket retailer is Bristol Motor Speedway’s longest running race entitlement sponsor and the second longest in NASCAR. The Food City 300 gets under way at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, September 20, 2024. 

About Food City

Headquartered in Abingdon, Virginia, K-VA-T Food Stores (Food City’s parent company) operates 157 retail outlets throughout southeast Kentucky, southwest Virginia, east Tennessee, north Georgia, and Alabama. For more information, visit www.foodcity.com.

About Crav’n Flavor

Crav’n Flavor is a brand with a wide variety of craveable meal and snack solutions for on-the-go shoppers. With more than 350 quality and convenient meal and snack solutions ranging from cookies, crackers and salty snacks to frozen appetizers, breakfasts, entrees, desserts, and pizza as well as refrigerated cookie dough and beef jerky, Crav’n Flavor has something to satisfy every craving. The brand – developed and managed by Topco Associates, LLC to support member-owners – has products currently available to purchase in thousands of Topco member stores across the country. For more information on Crav’n Flavor or to see where Crav’n Flavor products are available for purchase, visit www.cravnflavor.com. 

About Topco Associates, LLC

Topco Associates, LLC is an $18.3 billion, privately held, member-owned company that provides aggregation, innovation and knowledge management solutions for its leading food industry member-owners and customers, including grocery retailers, wholesalers, food service, and pharmacy companies. Topco leverages the collective volume, knowledge, and commitment of these companies to create a competitive advantage in the marketplace by reducing costs and offering winning business-building capabilities. Topco manages 20 brands on behalf of its member owners, including the Crav’n Flavor brand. For more information, please visit www.topco.com