Season 19 "Dancing With the Stars" celebrity competitors Michael Waltrip and Betsey Johnson plan on incorporating their careers into the ABC show.

In an interview with Fox Sports this week, Waltrip, who will dance with Emma Slater this season, said he hopes his participation on "Dancing With the Stars" will bring fans to auto racing and MWR, which he founded.

"The opportunity to go to L.A. and dance is something that I'm very serious about, and I can't wait for my opportunity to get on the dance floor with Emma, " he said. "To me it's bigger than just that, it's more about this sport and continuing to try to grow our team at MWR to the millions of people that will be watching 'Dancing With the Stars.'"

Fashion designer Johnson, who is partnered with Tony Dovolani, will also be connecting her trademark skills with Season 19 by wearing her own creations while performing, Wall Street Journal reports. She also plans on adding a cartwheel, which she does at the end of all of her fashion shows, into a routine.

"That's the big thing I've got in my pocket," she said. "I don't know if the other dancers do that, but every time we'll have a cartwheel-split. I just hope I make it a long time."

For Waltrip, there is an obvious similarity between "Dancing With the Stars" and his day job.

"The thing that I know for sure, when the music starts and it's time for me to start dancing, I can't take three or four steps and say, 'Hold on a minute.' It's live and real, it's just like a NASCAR race -- when they throw the green, you've gotta go," he told Fox Sports.

Waltrip said that being on the show is all about helping his career and colleagues.

"The racing team, like I said earlier, is the most important thing in the world to me," he said. "It's where all my eggs are totally in that basket. I go dancing and I go do TV to try to make that world more important for not only our team, but NASCAR in general."

"Dancing With the Stars" premieres Sept. 15 at 8 p.m.

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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

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