Beer school is in session at Richard Petty Motorsports, and the most apt pupil also seems most likely to be carded.

Kasey Kahne, a nine-time Sprint Cup winner whose apple-cheeked mug barely seems aged enough to warrant a driver's license, carefully has emptied a can of his favorite adult beverage (full disclosure: the company also spends millions to make his Dodge go fast) into a pilsner glass under the watchful eye of Anheuser-Busch brewmaster Angelo Cayo, who is teaching a NASCAR team the finer points of mixing barely and hops.

"That's a little too much head," Kahne says with a disapproving frown.

"But a very nice pour!" Cayo says. "Right down the middle."

That brings a smile for Kahne, and perhaps some relief, too. A world-famous brand's reputation rides on how convincing he is as its beer-drinking spokesman following in the footsteps of the sport's dominant personality.

A year and a half into being Budweiser's face in NASCAR, Kahne hasn't become as ubiquitous as the man he replaced. In eight Sprint Cup seasons driving a cherry-red Chevrolet, Dale Earnhardt Jr., the Sprint Cup series' six-time most popular driver in fan voting, was linked inextricably with the beer giant and elevated his profile to a level where results (Earnhardt has one win in the past 109 races and is 18th in points) seem virtually moot.

Entering this weekend's Sprint All-Star Race, which he won last year along with the Coca-Cola 600 for a sweep of the events preceding Memorial Day at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Kahne also is struggling (16th in the standings with two top 10s). But if his No. 9 has been underpowered (a new motor debuts this weekend), he still has flexed muscle as a marketing vehicle.

Dan McHugh, vice president of media, sponsorship and activation for Anheuser-Busch, says 95% of wholesalers are using the driver in "point of sale" displays — the cardboard cutouts purchased by convenience stores and bars to help push product. Earnhardt was the first Budweiser-sponsored driver to top 90%.

"That's a real good indicator of his fit," McHugh says, noting NASCAR remains the largest of its sports programs and that demand from wholesalers remained "overwhelmingly strong" after Earnhardt. "His popularity and personality fits at meet and greets. Overall, he's a great beer guy."...

...Though Bud has launched a full-scale push behind Kahne — including a commercial that runs on national TV outside race broadcasts, billboards in more than 30 states and a special 16-ounce nine pack to promote his car number — McHugh says the company "uses Kasey a little differently than Dale."

Earnhardt has credited his mushrooming fame to Budweiser employing a nontraditional approach that "never really stepped out of my comfort zone. I was in my mid-20s, drinking beers, going to bars and hanging with my buddies. Those things we preached were real." In ads (and some Super Bowl commercials that ran on the Super Bowl), the third-generation driver was shown wearing James Dean-style leather jackets and backwards baseball caps without logos.

In his store stand-ups, ads and other promotions, the more understated Kahne often is seen in the Budweiser uniform he wears on Sundays.

"It's almost a kinder, gentler image," says Jade Gurss, a publicist who helped manage Earnhardt's PR for Budweiser from '99-07. "There was clearly a decision to market in a different manner. There was no possibility of recreating the Dale Jr. thing."

Kahne's merchandise has ranked among the top five sellers in NASCAR since his 2004 rookie season, and he was voted into last year's all-star race. He also concedes "we have a lot of support, but we're not Dale Jr."

In research by Joyce Julius and Associates, a firm that evaluates sponsorship exposure on TV, Budweiser ranked eighth in 2008 Sprint Cup telecasts and garnered $77 million in exposure. In 2007, Earnhardt's final season with the No. 8, Bud was third ($99.9 million) behind Lowe's ($123.8 million) and DuPont ($115.6 million), the companies adorning the cars of Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, who were 1-2 in points.

Last year, Earnhardt's sponsors Amp and National Guard amassed a combined $182 million of TV exposure, second only to the $199.2 million of Lowe's (with three-time champion Johnson).

"There's a real power with Earnhardt Jr. and his abilities for a brand," says Eric Wright, vice president of research at Joyce Julius.

In two years of polling avid NASCAR fans for the Davie-Brown Index, which measures the relevance of athletes and celebrities and their abilities to influence consumer behavior, Earnhardt ranked first in awareness and eight other attribute categories such as appeal, aspiration, trust and endorsement.

Ken Cohn, vice president for the Charlotte-based sponsorship consulting agency Millsport that compiles the DBI, says the research revealed avid fans are at least 20% more passionate about Earnhardt than any other driver.

"I'm not sure it's possible to be as popular," Cohn says. "Kasey's not going to bring Junior Nation right off the bat."

Kahne's numbers, though, are trending upward in the DBI, where he moved into the top 10 in 2008 and improved in appeal, awareness and trend-setting. In surveying the general population, Kahne scored stronger among women 18-34 in appeal, endorsement and aspiration...