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[/media-credit]Dakoda Armstrong, behind the wheel of the No. 98 EverFi Toyota in the Camping World Truck Series, has racing on his mind. But he also hopes to educate his fans through his new season sponsor EverFi.
EverFi is an education technology company that helps high school students and high school graduates with financial literacy. The company offers its technology online and it is in use at no charge in over 4,000 schools nationally.
Armstrong’s sponsor includes curriculum covering everything from how to balance our check book to credit scores, student loans and mortgages.
“Every day across the United States, students are in their own race to gain the critical skills they need to succeed in life,” Tom Davidson, EverFi Chief Executive Officer, said. “Dakoda Armstrong and his team embody the speed, dedication, and urgency on the race track that we feel every day in the classroom.”
“EverFi couldn’t be more proud to support Dakoda Armstrong and the No. 98 ThorSport Racing team.”
Armstrong could not agree more with his sponsor.
“It was a good deal helping them out to get more awareness,” Armstrong said. “They’re really big about teaching these kids that come out of high school about financial literacy.”
“ I wish I could have had more help on that when I got out of high school,” Armstrong continued. “It’s tough. You just get thrown into the real world and have to make your own mistakes.”
Armstrong is also most impressed with his sponsor’s use of technology in their educational programming.
“It’s good the way they do it with the gaming and the kids figure it out on their own by making their mistakes and getting with it,” Armstrong said. “I’m glad we can help EverFi out and hopefully we can keep giving them more and more exposure so they can get into more and more schools.”
The relationship between Armstrong and his sponsor EverFi seemed to both to be a match made in heaven. And they hope it will continue all season long.
“I have some people that work for me finding sponsorship,” Armstrong said. “They figured out it was a pretty good fit.”
“They wanted to come into NASCAR and I just got out of high school so it was a good fit,” Armstrong continued. “I’m glad they’re a part of our 98 team for sure.”
“We’ve had them on since the beginning of the year and are looking for more and more sponsorship to help them out and to stay on the truck,” Armstrong said. “It’s been a great deal and hopefully we can continue it forward.”
With his sponsor on the truck, Armstrong turned his attention to trying to master the Monster Mile. His priority was to not only finish the race but also to continue to improve throughout the race, which he did, finishing 20th in the rain-shortened race.
“This was a different place for sure,” Armstrong said. “It was very fast and challenging being on concrete.”
“You go to a track that is a mile and you can almost hold it wide open, it gets your attention real fast.”
“This place to finish was priority one,” Armstrong said. “The biggest thing was getting better, improving on where we start and making sure our pit stops get better each week.”
Since his sponsor is all about educating high school students, Armstrong reflected on his season in terms of a letter grade.
“I think we are probably a ‘B’, Armstrong said. “There are things we could improve on but we’ve gotten better and better each week. That was our goal. We’ve improved our finishes a lot.”
“One thing we need to work on a lot is qualifying,” Armstrong continued. “It hasn’t been hurting us but starting in the back, it’s hard to make your way up with the level of competition.”
“Hopefully, when we start up closer, we will finish up closer to the front as well.”
But Armstrong’s focus was really all about the kids and his commitment to helping them achieve financial literacy. What would he say to each and every youth about EverFi?
“Really just check it out,” Armstrong said. “It’s a tough deal getting thrown out into the world.”
“I didn’t know a whole lot when I got out and fortunately I had my parents ,” Armstrong continued. “They were very smart with money and help me out a lot.”
“Fortunately they help me still,” Armstrong said. “ But it is tough, so check out EverFi.”
“It is free and we want to help kids,” Armstrong said. “It’s a good thing because what got our economy into trouble is people not knowing how to handle money.”
“So, to teach everybody to be better and better with it is a good deal.”
