Both Austin and Ty wear hats made by Charlie 1 Horse. Richard Petty's hats are also made by Charlie 1 Horse. Neither Austin or Ty have ever been sponsored by Charlie 1 Horse, but they get their hats for free from the company. Austin is a big John Wayne fan, and both him and Ty always wanted to be cowboys growing up. They both have worn cowboy hats and boots since they were kids. Charlie 1 Horse is a company based in Garland TX and they supply the hats worn in victory lane at the TX races. That is how Austin got his first hat from them, he simply asked if he could have one and they gave him one. The PR folks over at Charlie 1 Horse aren't dumb they knew he wore a cowboy hat all the time so why not give out some and collect on the free advertising. So now on their Facebook page they post a lot of Austin and Ty stuff because they get to use their likenesses for free, in exchange for a few free hats.

Ricky Stenhouse also wears a cowboy hat most of the time in the garage and when he is out and about; unlike Austin and Ty Ricky has a personal endorsement sponsorship with Serratelli hats. Ricky also almost always wears cowboy boots because he has another personal endorsement with Tony Lama. He also wears some fairly nice western suits at times. As a general rule he doesn't wear his cowboy hat for interviews in uniform because Roush Racing just like a lot of other teams has some rules regarding personal endorsements while wearing your Roush uniform.

Basically these guys are just picking up where Davey Allison, Dale Earnhardt, and Cale Yarborough, to name a few left off. In other parts of the country the hats probably look dumb but down here in Texas they fit right in.