‘Austin Dillon’s Life in the Fastlane’: Whitney Dillon and Mariel Swan Talk Becoming Best Friends (Exclusive)

NASCAR driver Austin Dillon has a reality series on the USA Network called Austin Dillion’s Life in the Fastlane, and the show takes a look at his life on and off the track. Dillon stars in the series along with his best friend and pit crew member Paul Swan, his wife Whitney Dillon and Swan’s wife Mariel Swan. One of the things that stand out in Austin Dillon’s Life in the Fastlane is the friendship between Whitney Dillon and Mariel Swan which dates back to the days when they were cheerleaders for the Tennessee Titans. PopCulture.com recently caught up with Dillon and Swan to talk about becoming best friends. 

“So Whitney and I, we both came in cheering for the Tennessee Titans our rookie year together,” Swan exclusively told PopCulture. “So I’ll never forget when we first saw each other, she thought that I was already a veteran, but I was auditioning too. And I saw her and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ I was like, ‘Your teeth are so white.’ And she was like, ‘Oh my God, thank you. You’re so pretty.’ I was like, ‘Oh my God, thank you.’

Swan continued: “When we tried out, there were 50 girls who made the top 50. And my mom went through the entire program book. In fact, then it was really crazy because most of the girls who made it, everybody looked a little similar. And so my mom went through the whole program book, and she said, ‘Who is this girl right here?’ I was like, ‘Oh, she’s auditioning too. Her name’s Whitney.’ She said, “She’s special.” She was like, ‘I’m going to pray for her.’ And I was like, ‘Okay, cool.’”

Both Dillion and Swan got closer during their seasons as Titans cheerleaders and it led to them being in the reality show called Racing Wives, which aired on CMT in 2019. Along with being best friends, Dillon and Swan have a jewelry company called The WM and they launched their own blog. Dillion and Swan have become more than best friends, which is seen in Austin Dillion’s Life in the Fast Lane. 

“I always loved her and adored her,” Dillon said. “But when she graduated from college, then we were kind of on the same page. Then we became roommates and it just took off from there. But yeah, she’s my girl. We’re going on a little over 10 years of friendship. And she is just really turned into my sister.”