How I Got Here with NASCAR official Rickie Kyle

Each week, I ask a member of the racing community to share their career path in a feature called “How I Got Here.” These interviews are recorded as a podcast but are also transcribed for those who prefer to listen. Up next: NASCAR official Rickie Kyle.

Can you tell me what your job right now with NASCAR entails? What do you do on a weekend?

On a weekend, starting on Friday morning, we do inspection on all the series that are racing that weekend. I’m in the safety department and we do all the safety on the cars and Trucks, Xfinity and Monster Cup.

So you’re going around and you’re basically checking to make sure that they’re compliant with the safety rules and things like that?

Yes. All their seatbelts and helmets and HANS devices, we have to double-check that every week to make sure the dates are not (expired), so their HANS and helmets and seatbelts are in compliance with the SFI rules, and of course with our NASCAR rulebook.

Interesting. So how long have you been working for NASCAR?

I’ve been with NASCAR 20 years as of this year.

Twenty years. Oh my gosh, wow. So I am very ignorant about this and don’t even know where people start being NASCAR officials. Did you grow up as somebody who was interested in cars?

No, I’m not mechanically inclined. I can change oil and spark plugs, but anything past that, no. I wasn’t a NASCAR fan. In grade school, I had friends who went to Rockingham every year and would bring back a Richard Petty STP sticker, I remember that. And I just wasn’t a big race fan.

One year in ’96, I started working as a security guard at Rockingham Speedway. For two years, I just kinda sat on the golf cart, because my job was to put out fires during the race — because if the tower saw smoke, they would think it was a wreck. So our job was to ride on the golf cart with two shovels and put out fires.

I thought you were using it as a metaphor at first, but you were literally putting out fires.

Putting out fires for people who were cooking or burning campfires during the race. And so I started doing that, and me and my friend were sitting on the golf cart one day and I was watching the NASCAR officials, what they were doing. And I told him, I said, “I could do that job.” And he said, “Well go get a job, and then help me get one.” This was in ’97, I think.

So I went home and my plan was to send a resume to NASCAR every month until they called me or said stop sending them. My sister helped me with my resume, I got it typed up, I sent the first one in.

We had a race in Rockingham that fall, so I went there and worked the race. After the race, I went in the garage — because I’m in a security guard uniform so I can go in — and I said, “How do I get a job for NASCAR?” And I asked several officials. I bet you four of them told me, “See Gary Nelson (who was Cup Series director at the time).” And four of them told me something off the wall, like you’ve gotta have some automotive engineering degree, you’ve gotta have a college degree.

But I went and found Gary Nelson, and he was standing in the garage. I didn’t know who he was, and I said, “Who is Gary Nelson?” And they said, “That guy there.” I walked over and I said, “Mr. Nelson, my name is Rickie Kyle, I’m very interested in being a NASCAR official.” He kind of looked at me up and down, he said, “OK, what do you do now?”

At that time I was a machinist for Ingersoll Rand Corporation in Southern Pines, North Carolina. He said, “Oh wow. Can you read micrometers, calipers, and blueprints?” I said, “Yes sir, I do that every day. I went to school to work there after I got out of the military,” and I’d been there 18 years at that time.

So Gary Nelson said, “Wow, give me your name and number.” So I gave it to him, he stuck it in his suit jacket and he said, “I’ll get back with you. Go over to the media center and get a schedule and mark all the races you can drive your car to every time you work that’s within eight hours of your house.” I lived in Southern Pines, North Carolina, and back then it was 16 races within eight hours of where I lived. So I checked all of them off and I remember when I was checking them off, it started raining, and I was standing under an awning in front of the media center. And I’m checking them off, my hands were shaking, I’m like, “I got to talk to Gary Nelson from NASCAR.”

And so I went over and I said, “Gary Nelson wants this,” so one of the officials took it because they were in tear down. He walked over, he said, “This is from that security guard,” and (Nelson waved it) and stuck it in his pocket.

A month later — April 1st, 1998 — I got home from work. I had two jobs, and I was changing to go to my second job, and Gary Nelson called me at home himself and I answered the phone, I said, “Hello?” He’s like, “Is this Rickie Kyle?” I said, “Yes it is.” He said, “This is Gary Nelson from NASCAR. I’m calling to see if you still want to be a NASCAR official.”

Just like that. No red tape, no interview, no resume, no nothing. Just sight. And so I said, “Yeah, I do.” He said, “You be in Martinsville, Virginia, Friday night and meet Marlon Wright at the Best Western hotel on 220 in Martinsville, Virginia, and he’ll take it from there.” So I went up that Friday night, met Marlon, he gave me that paperwork. I remember going in my room, and the guy I was rooming with, he had his NASCAR official hat, his NASCAR shirt laying there. I was like, “I can’t believe I’m gonna be wearing this.”

So the next morning I went to the track. There was no black people working with NASCAR. I mean, I’d seen a few in there working in the track, but no officials. There were none. And they had hired me and another black official from Memphis named Tyrone Carpenter. We both started the same weekend. And he worked for FedEx in Memphis.

So I went in, and my father always said, “Keep your mouth shut, be where you’re supposed to be, and do what you’re supposed to do.” I did that ever since high school, basic training through the military, never had a problem. Did my (military) tour, got out, worked at Ingersoll Rand for 18 years, and then Gary Nelson calls me up. And I said, “Now I’ve gotta do this same thing again.”

So I went in the garage and guys were kind of looking at me. Everyone was very nice, I had no problems. When I told my mother NASCAR wants me to come work part time, she was like, “Ain’t that the sport were everybody has a beard and some teeth missing and drinking beer?” (Laughs) I said, “That’s the fans, Mama, that’s not (the officials).” She said, “You be careful,” I said, “OK.”

So I went in the garage and they introduce me and I’m standing in the trailer. All of a sudden this big shadow, it was wide, it was like, “Who’s that?” I turned around and it’s this huge man standing there and I’m like, “Who…?” And this man says, “How you doing?” It’s Mike Helton. And I said, “I’m good sir, how you doing?” He said, “Welcome aboard,” I said, “Thank you.”

They gave me my shirts and they interviewed me, riding in the pace car Gary Nelson and Buster (Auton) around Martinsville Speedway. And that was my interview. Gary said, “Who’s your favorite driver?” I said, “I don’t know any drivers.” He said, “Well, do you like to watch the race?” I said, “If I want to go to sleep on Sunday, I’ll turn it on.” He said, “You just answered the two most important questions right.”

Being hired as somebody that knows nothing about any job, their mind is open to learn everything there is. So I just came in and I’m fresh. I didn’t know Turn 2 from Turn 4, and then I learned and I learned how to do it. And when they hired me (full-time), I was the first African-American to be hired by NASCAR as an official. I was the first African-American to go over the wall in a uniform and work a car as an official. And I was inducted into the Minority Hall of Fame by Wendell Scott’s wife at (North Carolina) A&T (State University) in 2003.

That’s so cool.

NASCAR got me a ring that says, “Bridging the gap in motorsports.” I got a glass plaque that Mary Scott presented to me, and so I had to tell that story there. I went to a black tie dinner with my wife and daughter.

Ever since then, this place and this job, I have never had a problem with anybody — crew, driver, fan. When a fan sees “Official” on your shirt, they’re more enthused about meeting an official than what color you are. I have never been (subjected to) any racial remarks or anything that I’ve ever heard myself. And if you respect people, they respect you.

For 20 years, it’s just been a smooth ride for me and I get the most respect. People say, “What do you do?” And I say, “I’m a NASCAR official.” And their eyes get big and they’re like, “Really?” Like in my town, it’s a small town, and I can’t go in the grocery store, the pharmacy, the bank (without people whispering)  “That’s the guy that works for NASCAR.” And some mornings when I have to go to Charlotte for teardown, I stop at the convenience store, get something to drink on the way up, and it’s a bunch of guys standing around. And everybody knows me, and a lot of times I’ve had NASCAR vehicles that I’ve driven over the years, and they’d see me come in in the morning, and they’re staring at me. I’m like, “I’m just a human like you, I have a job, a regular 8-to-5 job. That’s all.” “But you’re on TV!” I said, “Yeah, you gotta be careful so you’re scratching and digging when the camera is on you.” (Laughs)

So how did your job evolve over the years? You mentioned when you started, it was a part-time thing. At what point did it become your actual career and your job, and how have your duties changed over that time?

Well for the first two years, I was part-time. And they put me right off the bat in the engine department because I could read micrometers and calipers and blueprints. So they hired me and I went straight to engines, and I did all the paperwork and typed in everything on a laptop, and they taught me how to do that. And I did that for 10 years, worked in the engine department.

Then I left the engine department and I went to the weights and measurements department, and I worked there two years. And I left weights and measurements when an opening came up for safety and I got in safety. So I’ve been working there.

But my duties, outside of doing safety on Friday, I do all the lineups for qualifying; I line all the vehicles up on pit road. I line up everything for all the races because I’m ex-military and I’m all about “dress right, dress,” — everything’s gotta be exact. The crews, I’ll be out there, they’ll say, “Oh Lord, here comes Rickie with his tape measure.” I mean, I can eyeball vehicles and put them exactly where they need to be.

They need to be a certain space apart, a certain angle?

Certain angle, space apart and you’ve gotta do it by sight. And over the years for 20 years, I’ve lined up vehicles. I think about three years ago, NASCAR appointed me lead over pit road, so I’m over all the pit roads and lining up vehicles. So they say, “Hey Rickie, we’re not gonna line them up Le Mans, we’re gonna line them up nose to tail,” or “We’re gonna line them up in the pit box, we’re gonna line them up Le Mans style.” They can call me and I change it and do it right then.

At Bristol Motor Speedway, we had cars all between trucks and everywhere for qualifying because we couldn’t get them all on pit road because the pit road was so short. And one day I said, “I’ve got an idea, John” — John Darby was the director. I said, “Can we try my idea?” He said, “Do you think it will work? Let’s try it.”

I got all 43 cars on the front pit road backed in at an angle, and I remember Mike Helton and Robin Pemberton coming out and taking pictures of it because the way it looked. They said, “We have never seen seen Bristol look this neat and clean and everybody’s on pit road.” There used to be people between trucks and we had to stick officials back there to watch them watch the cars because you can’t see them. So I came up with that idea.

Then I came up with the steps — if you park nose to tail, it’s 10 steps (between cars). That’s eight for the car, two for the generator. If you park Le Mans (a grid), I can park five steps between each car, six steps, or seven steps. If they say, “We need room,” I do seven. If they say, “We’ve gotta be tight,” I do five. And so I got that implemented out there.

The teams come to me, and they say, “Rickie, that was too tight. When we come back, we need more room to make that turn to get our generators out.” I say OK, so we go back and I’ll do something different. And they come up and they acknowledge it and they’d come up and say, “Hey, that was good, Rickie, you did it like that.”

I mean, all the teams and the crews and the crew chiefs and the drivers, it’s amazing that you know these guys that are on TV and they walk up to you and know your name. Tony Stewart was trying to sign my uniform at Dover last week, I’m like, “Get away from me! I’ve got one, don’t write on it!” He’s got a Sharpie trying to write on my uniform before the race. And Dale Jr. invited me to his house to see his treehouse. I’m like, “What? Do you have a Tarzan rope or something?” He’s like, “No, get my number from the PR girl and you call me.” I’m like, “I’m gonna call Dale Jr. to come to your house? Yeah, OK.” (Laughs)

So you mentioned you were in the military. You were in the Army?

I was in the Army. I went in the Army fresh out of high school, I graduated, two weeks later I was in basic training. My father was ex-military, he was in the 82nd (Airborne Division), he was in 21 years, retired and then he was the first black to be a deputy and a police officer in our town. I wear my hair the same way he did 40 years ago (close-cropped), me and my brother, because my father was ex-military. He said, “You’re not gonna grow an Afro and walk about here with plaits in your head. You’re gonna keep a haircut.” And he was always strict on us; we always shaved.

Being in the military, I got Soldier of the Month for being the best dressed soldier in the military. Out of 260 troops, twice while I was in the six years, I got the Soldier of the Month award. I finished my three years active duty, I went into the reserves, I did six years in the reserves, and that was when I was working at Ingersoll Rand also.

So when Gary Nelson hired me, he said, “Now you can’t work all these jobs. You won’t be able to, because you’re gonna be traveling.” I said, “I just have to sacrifice then and make it work.” And over the years it has worked.

It’s been 20 years of meeting people. I am so close to these people, if something happens to them, it’s like a family member, like somebody dies. We had this girl that got in a wreck in Charlotte and she was my partner, her name was Brienne (Davis). She was going to a birthday party on 77 in Charlotte and got in a wreck. She had an old ’69 short-bed truck she fixed up herself, and didn’t have seatbelts in it. And she flipped and got thrown out and she was brain dead. And so Mike Helton came up to me at Phoenix the next weekend and said, “Rickie, don’t worry, she’s better off where she’s at.” And I just started crying uncontrollably. And my wife was like, “Why are you crying over another woman?” And I said, “She’s like my family. We were close.” She was about my daughter’s age. I’m like, “We worked together, we are together all the time. Any of these people I work with, I’m very close to them.” And being here at NASCAR is like a family. Everybody’s just great. We get along, we party together, we hang out, we go play golf, we’re all the time together. And I spend more time with these guys here than I do with my family.

They asked us in a meeting two years ago at our official conference, they said, “Raise your hand if you’re proud to say you work for NASCAR.” And you know, half the people didn’t put their hand up, because they’re afraid you’re gonna be labeled as an ass-kisser or brown-noser for raising your hand and being honest. I said, “I still get teary-eyed saying I work for NASCAR. When cars go by at Talladega and the hair is standing up on your neck, when you’re down in pit box 1, you love what you do.” You know what it feels like to be in love with something, because that feeling, like when you hear somebody sing and it sounds so good, you can feel it. You can feel that feeling, and that’s the feeling I get for working pit road and being here.

I love getting up and going to work no matter where we are every week, I never dread coming to work. I’ve never called in and took off sick because I love what I do. And the director told me one time, he said, “You know what Mr. Kyle? You were meant to do this job.”

I never was one that (grew up) wanting to be a NASCAR official. I never heard of a NASCAR official until I was working in Rockingham in the ‘90s. The way I got to the track down there was from work, a bunch of guys was going to the time trials, and I didn’t drink. And they say, “Rickie, take off half a day and come with us to time trials at 1:00 and drive for us so we can drink beer.” I said, “Oh, OK.” So we took off and bought a bunch of Bojangles chicken and a bunch of beer and we went to the track. And we were sitting in the bleachers and watching the cars practice, and every time this black car went by, everybody stood up, put their hand up. Even someone that was drunk passed out, when the black car went by, they’d open their eyes and stand up and do that. I’m like, “What’s so great about that black car that everybody stands up?” He said, “That’s the man right there. He will put the nose of that race car anywhere and he ain’t afraid of nothing.” And that’s how I got to know who Dale Earnhardt was. And I got to meet Dale Earnhardt. I got to work with him a couple of years before he got killed. I was there the night he got killed, and I have never seen so many grown men cry in my life.

You mentioned that it’s kind of a family. What if somebody’s listening to this and they’re like, “I would love to do that, that sounds like a great job.” How would you recommend they get their start these days?

NASCAR wants you to have some type of track knowledge. Like we just hired a girl out of Alabama. She went to college and she’s 26, and I’ve noticed her at Talladega. She worked pit road in security, her and her dad. Her dad’s 6′ 4″ and she’s 6′ 3″. She played basketball. I watched on pit road when lining up cars, how she controlled the crowd — even though they’d be nasty, she’s be polite and she knew how to handle them. I said, “She’d make a good official.”

So a year ago, I told her, “You should apply for a job. Go to NASCAR.com and apply and send your resume in.” She didn’t do it. So the next year we came back and I’m like, “Did you send it?” She said, “No, I just felt like I couldn’t get a job.” So me and my supervisor, David Green, talked to Chad Little, who did the interviews, and we talked to Chad and we took him out and we introduced her to him, and he said, “Send me your resume to my email.” And she sent it in, and ball started rolling, now she’s sitting over there in our office.

And in hiring her, just being there on the track and having that track knowledge, she has picked up everything. I told them, “You hire people that’s got a fresh mind to this instead of somebody who’s worked at a dirt track all their life and they’ve got that in their head.” She has picked up everything we showed her, she picked it up the first time. We’ve got guys that’s been here five years and can’t park a race car as good as she does, and she’s been here less than a month. Because she never knew it, and when you tell her something, that sticks in there. So I told them, I said, “You keep hiring these guys that’s got all this experience, but it’s like what they told us when I tried to be a highway patrol back in the 80’s — they said they want to hire guys with no experience so we can train them to be highway patrol.”

When people come from lower series, they’re all ready to jump and fight or yell at somebody, and now they get to this level and get this (“Official” name) on the shirt, their head is just big. And my father always said, “Don’t let a job make your head get too big. Stay humble, do your job, be nice, treat people the way you want to be treated.” I tell them, “I’ve been here 20 years, I know. You’ve gotta treat these teams and drivers right. You’ve gotta be nice, you’ve gotta be polite. Gary Nelson always said, “We’re not here to bust their ass every time they do something wrong.” He said, “It’s our job as officials to help these guys, teach them how to do it right and teach them if they do it right, it’s gonna work out for you.” It’s respect.

12 Questions with Matt DiBenedetto (2018)

The series of 12 Questions driver interviews continues with Matt DiBenedetto, who drives the No. 32 car for Go Fas Racing.

1. How often do you have dreams about racing?

Oh man. I don’t dream a lot, but when I do, I would honestly say 50 percent of my dreams are about racing — which is a lot. So I would say probably once every couple of weeks.

Are they just dreams where you’re driving the car, or does something happen in them?

Winning. I’ve had a dream about my first Cup win multiple times. So it’s coming one of these years or days or whatever. Hopefully in the near future.

2. If you get into someone during a race — intentional or not — does it matter if you apologize?

If it’s just a racing deal or you do get into somebody, I don’t know if an apology is necessary. But maybe out of respect, if it’s something that needed confronting, definitely communication is key. When you leave things burning or unsaid, that could usually cause the worst outcomes. I like to be open book.

3. What is the biggest compliment someone could give you?

Honestly, it’s when I get compliments all the time from guys like Dale Jr., Jeff Gordon and a ton of other drivers in the garage. It’s neat getting it from everybody and the owners, but (it’s more special from) the guys you race against — when you feel like you have earned their respect and they give you compliments like, “Wow, that’s amazing what you guys are doing, how well you ran.”

Even kind of the unspoken respect I feel like I got from the drivers like (Kevin) Harvick and Denny (Hamlin) and Darrell Waltrip jumping in and actually sponsoring my car (at Phoenix), it’s amazing to have earned that respect from all of my peers that I’ve raced with. So that’s the biggest compliment I could ever get.

4. NASCAR comes to you and says, “Matt, we’re bringing a celebrity to the track and we’d love for you to host them.” Who is a celebrity you’d be really excited to host at a race?

I think John Cena would be a really cool guy to hang out with and I like like he would just be really fun. I did the John Cena intro song at Bristol and I’m just a big fan of him. I think he just seems like a good person.

Yeah. He’d get you in a good mood.

Yes! Energetic. That’s what I like.

5. In an effort to show this is a health conscious sport, NASCAR decides to offer the No. 1 pit stall for an upcoming race to the first driver willing to go vegan for one month. Would you do it?

Oh gosh. No. I actually would not. There’s a difference in eating for health and eating for performance, and I’ve learned a lot and I really buckled down on that this year — my fitness stuff and my health stuff and my eating. Like 10 times harder this year than ever.

I’ve learned there’s a good balance; you need to eat your meat, you need to eat your chicken, and you need some carbs for performance. I’ve accidentally eaten really clean before. That sounds great, but like super, super clean where you don’t have near enough carbs, things like that — and I had no energy and my performance was awful. So I learned a lot about that.

My crew chief, Randy Cox, has actually taught me a lot. I’ve buckled down big time, like I do CrossFit every week and I lift and I’ve been like working out like crazy and eating really well. I’m learning every day. So I can’t sacrifice the performance.

6. It’s time for the Random Race Challenge. I’ve picked a random race from your career and you have to tell me where you finished.

I have terrible memory. This should be fun.

This is the 2016 Bank of America 500, which was the Charlotte fall race.

Oh man, I don’t even have a clue. Charlotte fall race 2016. So I was still with BK (Racing). I’m gonna guess 26th.

Oh my gosh — 25th!

Oh man! I thought it was an OK race. I vaguely remember it.

You started 24th. You were the only one on your lap.

I do remember our qualifying effort was good there. So yeah, we qualified in the second round and we had some good speed. Didn’t have as much speed in the race, but Charlotte’s up or down for me. I’ve had some really fast cars and some really bad luck there, so I don’t know which one that was.

7. Who is the best rapper alive?

This one’s hard, but I don’t listen to a lot of rap. Does DMX count as a rapper?

Yeah, he’s a rapper.

Yeah, that’s old school. Yeah, DMX. That’s one of my favorites.

8. Who has the most punchable face in NASCAR?

My answer may be kind of vague, but I’m gonna say every single one of them that I’m angry at during a race. Whoever I’m mad at at the current time. I’m a very high-tempered type of person, so it changes week to week, but some of the people that I race around, yeah — I’ve said on the radio many times I’m gonna get out and punch that guy in the face. So it’s been multiple people. I can’t single out one person.

And that’s a letdown because then I would run to your car if I think it’s going to happen with my phone ready for the next fight — and then no.

You are the master of that. I have a little bit of a temper with things. I’m either very, very calm, which I am usually 90 percent of the race, but if somebody makes me mad, I’m just like, “I’m gonna rip that guy of out of the car after the race, just beat the crap out of him.” Like I get that angry, so I don’t have a happy medium, unfortunately.

OK. Well, just follow through one time so I can get it on video.

(Laughs) I hope I don’t have to, but if I get mad enough where you see any big scuffle at the end of the race or something, definitely come to my car afterwards.

No matter what happens, I like to confront outside the race car in person after the race. I’ve done that many times where you catch people off guard. If someone runs into my race car after the race or something like that, that’s it. I’m going right to their face after. And if they make me mad, then things are about to go down.

9. NASCAR enlists three famous Americans to be involved with your team for one race as part of a publicity push: Taylor Swift, LeBron James and Tom Hanks. Choose one to be your crew chief, one to be your spotter and one to be your motorhome driver.

Tom Hanks is gonna be my motorhome driver because he’s got great survival skills, so I’ll be well prepared in the coach. And then Taylor Swift would be my spotter because I would just want to hear her voice as much as humanly possible. And then LeBron would be calling the shots on the box.

10. What is the key to finding the best pre-race bathroom?

We usually scope that out beforehand, but usually when we’re riding around in the truck, you’re up a little higher and you’re on the track so you have a good vantage point. You can get in there and look, see where your car is parked and then have bird’s-eye view of, “OK, where’s the nearest port-a-potty?” or bathroom or whatever.

I don’t know if I should give this tip away, but the really smart fans hang out near the bathrooms near the cars before the race and they get the most autographs out of everybody.

Drivers actually sign there on the way to the bathroom?

Yeah, kind of. There’s usually sometimes a line, we’re all kind of waiting in line, so we’ve got nothing to do. So yeah, a fan can come up before we walk in there and it’s not very many people, so it’s not like you’re fighting the crowds. So I’m giving them some pretty good tips.

11. NASCAR misses the highlight reel value brought by Carl Edwards’ backflips and decides a replacement is needed. How much money would they have to pay you to backflip off your car after your next win?

Oh my gosh. When I win a race, I’ll just be going insane anyway. There’d probably have to be like $20,000 on the line because I’d have to practice starting Monday every day for until the day leading up to when I win my race. because I can’t really do a backflip. If I practice, I’m sure I could do it — if there’s a will there’s a way — but for 20 grand, I’d make it happen.

I’d have to make sure I was really good at it first before I did it, because that’s dangerous. I was always on edge and scared every time he’d win a race; I’d be dreading the backflip: “Please don’t hurt yourself, Carl.”

That’s true. I was always like, “Oh God, we’re going to have to write a story about the race winner getting hurt.”

We might have to up that number, actually, because there’s still a good chance that I’d get hurt. So I don’t know, maybe up it to $50,000.

12. Each week, I ask a driver to give me a question for the next interview. Last week was Brad Keselowski, and his question for you was: How exactly did you become the darling of Reddit? How did that whole thing evolve? He was curious.

That’s a good question. So the Reddit community has jumped on board behind me and us because I really genuinely just hung out in there and on there. As my career started to evolve and I started to become more successful and be in the Cup Series, they just thought it was cool that I was just in there and one of them and just hanging out and commenting, because there’s some really fun content in there that I enjoy.

That was it. It super naturally and organically just built and because they thought it was so cool that a Cup driver was just chilling in there with them and commenting and having fun with them. I’ve even hosted races in iRacing and gave them all the password and told them, “Hey, jump in.” It fills up in a minute. So I don’t know. Just fun, normal stuff.

Do you think they can propel you to the All-Star fan vote this year?

Yeah, I do. This year I feel pretty confident that we have a good shot at it. It’s not gonna be easy, but obviously I’d like for Chase to race his way in because Chase is always, he’s a fan favorite. But either way, I think last year we may have even gotten more votes than Danica, from what I’ve heard. Don’t quote me on that, but for us to have last year gotten that many votes and been that close and if Chase had raced his way in, I think we would have been the fan vote. So for us to have done that last year, my fan base has done nothing but grow since then. I mean, I think we can make it happen. The Reddit community’s been a big part of that.

I don’t know who the next interview is going to be with. Do you have a question I can ask another driver in general?

I like hearing what drivers think of other drivers. Who do they think is going to be the next driver to be the next up-and-coming driver that’s going to be winning races in the Cup Series in the years to come?

So who’s gonna be the next breakthrough guy that emerges on the scene and starts winning races?

Yeah, whether they’re in Cup now or in Xfinity, whatever it may be, who do they think will be the next guy that’s gonna be the new Kyle Larson or something. It could be somebody like me, it could be Christopher Bell, there’s lots of options like that.

The Top Five: Breaking down the Kansas race

Five thoughts after Saturday night’s race at Kansas Speedway…

1. For the love of the game

There are few things in NASCAR more boring than when one driver dominates a bunch of races (or championships). It typically sucks all the oxygen out of the sport, because it suddenly feels predictable — and predictability often equals a lack of excitement.

But Kevin Harvick’s crazy start to the 2018 season feels different. It’s more of the holy-crap-that’s-amazing dominance than the oh-geez-not-this-again snoozefest.

Five wins in the first 12 races of the season. In-SANE! Harvick has already tied his career high for wins in a season and is on pace to become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to reach double digit wins.

Look, we’ve seen teams come out and kick butt for a season in recent years — Martin Truex Jr. last year and Harvick in 2014 come to mind.

But winning at this rate? It’s been a long time since we’ve seen anything like this, and Harvick knows he’s in the midst of something very special.

Like everyone else, he’s curious to see how far it can go.

“Now it feels like a game,” he said. “You want to see how many races you can win. You want to see how many laps you can lead. We know that we’re riding a momentum wave that is hard to come by, and you need to capitalize on it as many times as you can — because it may never come again.”

I wasn’t around for Jeff Gordon’s 13-win season in 1998, but I’m guessing what Harvick and Rodney Childers are doing is shaping up to be the closest thing. Harvick said the feeling is “addicting” and it feels like Homestead in terms of the level of focus each week.

“It’s something that you may never do again in your career,” Childers said. “… The reason we all are here is because of watching people like Jeff Gordon and Ray Evernham win 12 races a year, and that’s what your goal should be no matter what race team you are.”

Can they get there? It’s intriguing to consider the possibility, and it’s starting to make me actually look forward to watching this kind of dominance rather than dreading it.

2. Larson the beast

Kyle Larson has still never won a 1.5-mile track race, but he sure looked on his way to doing it at Kansas.

Even though he didn’t win, that performance might have been the best NASCAR race of Larson’s career. He ripped around the high line more effectively than anyone and executed it to perfection, clearly elevating his car to another level.

In a race dominated once again by Fords and Toyotas, Larson was the one Chevrolet driver who can run up front — and stay there. But Larson wasn’t taking credit for the performance; he said the cars have been pretty good.

“I was happy about the performance in our Chevy,” he said. “It looks like (Chevrolet) has been struggling, but I don’t think we really have been that much.”

Still, it has to have a lot to to with Larson. Remember earlier in his career when he used to ride the high lane but then hit the wall every time he was having a good race? He’s not doing that anymore. The guy is just extremely talented, and it’s a joy to watch when he’s on like he was at Kansas.

So did he agree it was one of his best races? He’s not really one for boasting, so he actually downplayed it.

“It’s not too hard to run the wall here,” he said. “It’s fairly smooth and has a lot of grip. But yeah, I was happy with it. I felt pretty calm out front.”

3. Truex team has lost a step

Martin Truex Jr. almost won at Kansas for the third straight time, but that was thanks to pit strategy rather than pure speed.

For the most part, Kansas reaffirmed Truex’s car isn’t where he needs it to be right now.

It’s not like the 78 is awful, but the flat splitter and the enhanced inspection have certainly cost it some speed. Meanwhile, the Fords have gained at the same time and it makes Truex look vulnerable.

“We’re going to have to find something,” Truex said. “We’ve had good speed throughout the season at points, we just haven’t been as consistent as last year in finding it.”

I wouldn’t discount Truex’s chances of making another final four, but it just seems like he’s going to be doing the chasing instead of being chased this summer.

“It’s pretty evident the Fords have an unfair advantage this year,” he joked, referencing the accusations lobbed Toyota’s way in 2017. “I’ll just throw that out there.”

4. YRB’s bummer

It’s not like Ryan Blaney meant to hit Larson, but he felt there was no choice but to aggressively side-draft in the situation that led to the No. 12 car wrecking out after leading 54 laps.

“You have to run inches from each other,” Blaney said. “Can’t pass nobody anyway, so you have to do that.”

Blaney took blame for the incident, but said he essentially had to race Larson that way or “he would have sucked me around into (Turn) 1.”

“The cars are really edgy and hard to handle,” Blaney said. “Harvick went by me a foot from me — probably 10 mph faster — and about spun me out.”

Was it fair game? After all, Larson had done a similar side-draft on Harvick earlier.

But Larson rejected the direct comparison when I brought it up.

“It wasn’t the same move, because when I was side-drafting Harvick to get by him, I had more of a run than Blaney had on me,” Larson said. “I was able to clear (Harvick) when I side-drafted. (Blaney) was just trying to side-draft and slow me down and get to my door.”

5. A penny for Trevor’s thoughts

Trevor Bayne showed up at Kansas to be a good team player, even though Matt Kenseth had basically taken his ride. The point of Kenseth returning to Roush Fenway Racing is to get the program headed back in the right direction, but this weekend was probably a rude awakening as to how far off Roush actually is.

Kenseth finished 36th after getting caught in a crash, but the night wasn’t great before that. He was running two laps down in the mid-20s when the wreck happened.

I’d love to know Bayne’s true thoughts after watching Kenseth struggle in the car — or at least run about where Bayne had been this season. There had to be some sense of, “See, guys? It’s not just me!”

Maybe it was never realistic for Kenseth to show up and immediately make the No. 6 into a top-10 car, but there were definitely people (um…me!) who thought a Cup champion who had just won a race last November could immediately elevate that ride beyond its typical finishes.

Perhaps that will be the case later this season, but now we know the car is definitely more to blame for poor results than the driver.

Friday roundup: Kansas news and notes

Here are some of the highlights from Friday at Kansas Speedway:

Kenseth returns, but…

Matt Kenseth had a bummer of a first day back in NASCAR.

While Kenseth said it took him only two laps to feel like he’d never been out of a car, the No. 6 Ford itself appears to need some work — maybe more than his fans anticipated.

After Kenseth was only 28th in practice and his car didn’t get on track to qualify due to not passing inspection in time, the 46-year-old acknowledged it was a rough day.

“We didn’t have a lot of speed in practice at all today and we have some work to do to get it driving better as well,” said Kenseth, who will start 35th. “It’s going to take some patience. I’m not a super patient person, but it’s going to take a little time and some patience on everyone’s part to get this rolling in the direction we need it to.”

Kenseth was late starting practice because his car had trouble getting through tech inspection. He then made several short runs in the limited time — some as short as one lap — as he attempted to quickly diagnose the car’s issues.

“I knew what I was looking for and I could get a read rather quickly — at least which direction a change brought us in, whether it was a positive change or a negative change,” he said. “Really trying to get through enough stuff.”

Part of Kenseth’s task in his return to Roush Fenway Racing is to get the cars driving better again, and Friday showed how much work there is to be done.

“I didn’t have a lot of expectations for today (speed-wise),” he said. “I was hoping today would go smoother than what it went. I certainly hoped we would have been faster than what we showed in practice.”

Harvick the destroyer

Kevin Harvick, winner of four races this season and dominator of pretty much every week this season, was asked after winning the pole whether he plans on giving anyone else a chance at Kansas.

“I hope not,” he said. “I have no plans to.”

With apologies to Kyle Busch, the other drivers are well aware of who the top driver is this season so far.

Harvick is “head and shoulders above everyone else right now,” outside polesitter Ryan Blaney said.

“Kevin seems to be by far the fastest right now,” William Byron said.

Harvick now has 23 career poles, and 17 of them have come since he joined Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014.

Bowyer on blame

Clint Bowyer’s rear-window violation at Dover was due to a broken part and wasn’t intentional — at least according to Bowyer.

After his second-place finish was penalized this week, Bowyer said he was certain his crew wasn’t trying to skirt the rules. He said to look at the pictures for proof.

“If we’d have been pushing hard and they were foolish and got caught doing something bad and I felt like that’s how I got that performance advantage and that’s why I ran so good last weekend, you’d feel like you cheated somebody,” he said. “But I looked back at 150 pictures that we have available to us and went back and looked at the other guys that had the same problem — and I just didn’t see the same result.”

Bowyer will be without his usual car chief for the next two races.

Speaking of penalties…

Martin Truex Jr. said NASCAR’s rules are “over-enforced” and fans are tired of hearing about penalties every Wednesday. Dover runnerup Bowyer and third-place finisher Daniel Suarez were both among those to receive major penalties this week.

“(Fans) think everyone is cheating and (say) ‘This is ridiculous,’ and ‘I don’t want to watch racing because these guys are frauds.'” Truex said. “I’ve seen (the penalties) that happened this week, and that’s not why that guy ran third or why that guy ran second. Let’s have some common sense in the way we enforce some of these things.”

Truex said he recognizes NASCAR is in a “tough spot” in search of a level playing field, but is frustrated at the ongoing issue.

Wednesday inspection, you take four cars (after the race),” he said. “If you took the whole field, 38 of them might have failed this particular week. You had so many that didn’t pass.”

Ryan Blaney suggested NASCAR should still do the penalties but not tell anyone about them in order to keep the conversation focused on the racing each week.

Byron quietly having solid season

The Hendrick Motorsports cars have still been a bit off, but William Byron is measuring himself against his teammates — not the rest of the field. And he feels like he’s making gains in that department.

“I’m running close to where my teammates are and that is always really a reference point for how you are performing,” he said. “I feel like I’m right in the middle of them sometimes. Richmond, we were probably the best of our cars and I was really excited about that.

“I think that I am able to run with them, and if I can do that and continue that progression, once we do get the speed that we need we will all be that much better.”

Byron said at the start of the year, there was a bit of a shock with some races like Atlanta. And when they missed it in those races, it was a big miss. But now, he said, “the misses are a lot better” and are still competitive performances — like a top-15 instead of top-30.

Byron has eight top-20 finishes in his 11 Cup starts and is 17th in the point standings.

Almirola doesn’t care who owns NASCAR

Most drivers didn’t have much to say about the report NASCAR is up for sale, but Aric Almirola said it didn’t matter to him, anyway.

“I just show up every single weekend excited to go race and that’s what I love,” he said. “That’s what I’ve always done, so for me, as long as there’s a platform and a ride available for me to go race, I don’t really care who owns it. That’s just the truth. I know that’s probably not the answer you’re looking for, but I could give a crap less.”

 

12 Questions with Brad Keselowski (2018)

The series of weekly driver interviews continues with Brad Keselowski of Team Penske. This is Keselowski’s eighth time doing a 12 Questions interview. The interview was recorded as a podcast, but is also transcribed for those who prefer to read.

1. How often do you have dreams about racing?

Probably three or four times a month.

That’s fairly often. Do you have nightmares? Just envision yourself driving?

A little bit of both. Sometimes it’s like I won a race. Sometimes it’s like the “I’m late to the car” thing. Or the “I don’t have any clothes on” dream, like you’re naked in the race car or at the race car. And then there’s sometimes the “Crash really hard and die” dream.

Oh! That took a dramatic turn there.

Yeah. It covers the whole spectrum.

2. If you get into someone during a race — intentional or not — does it matter if you apologize?

Eh. I don’t know. I mean, it’s racing. I feel like when you get in the car, you can expect those things are going to happen.

If you do something intentional, then yeah. You should have enough humility to accept the fact those things aren’t always necessary.

I was at Martinsville a few weeks ago and we were struggling — I had run into the back of somebody and broken the splitter. I’d been really good at Martinsville for the last few years, and we weren’t running as well as I know we were capable of. I didn’t know the reason was the splitter was damaged.

But AJ Allmendinger came up behind me and he was a little faster. I was already agitated because we weren’t running well, and then the second he caught me, he ran into the back of me. In my mind, it was like, “Dude, make a move! Don’t just run into someone.” So I was mad, and I ran into him.

A day or two later and I thought, “Man, I shouldn’t have done that. That really wasn’t cool.” So I said something to him, because I felt like I was wrong. Those scenarios are appropriate to apologize.

On the other side, if the two of you are racing and you get a little loose and run up into somebody a little bit? Nah. That’s just racing.

3. What is the biggest compliment someone could give you?

That one is pretty easy: It’s my wife or daughter when they say, “I love you.”

4. NASCAR comes to you and says, “Brad, we’re bringing a celebrity to the track and we’d love for you to host them.” Who is a celebrity you’d be really excited to host at a race?

Probably Elon Musk.

But I feel like you’d start debating about self-driving cars.

Oh, absolutely. That’s part of why it would be fun.

You’d want to pick his brain and also say, “Here’s why it’s not going to work out for you.”

Pretty much. And he might say something that makes me think about it differently. And that’s OK. That’s part of why I’d enjoy it. I would enjoy it not from the cult of celebrity perspective, I would enjoy it from the viewpoint perspective.

5. In an effort to show this is a health conscious sport, NASCAR decides to offer the No. 1 pit stall for an upcoming race to the first driver willing to go vegan for one month. Would you do it?

Yeah. I don’t think that one’s too hard. It’s achievable. It’d have to be a good race though, not one of those races where the first pit stall doesn’t mean much — like Pocono. The first pit stall at Pocono is like pbbbt. It’s not worth that much. So I would think it would be like a Martinsville or a Homestead.

No cheese, no meat, no milk…you could do all that?

Yeah. I try really hard not to drink milk now. I do a little bit of cheese; I try to avoid that, to be quite honest. If I eat cheese, it’s because it’s on something like pizza. But I could get around it.

It would be harder to me to give up bread, which I try do to that as well.

I don’t have a vegan diet right now, but I’m not far off it — other than I like steak, which is really far off it.

6. It’s time for the Random Race Challenge. I’ve picked a random race from your career and you have to tell me where you finished. This is the 2015 Kansas spring race, also known as the SpongeBob SquarePants 400. Do you know where you finished?

’15 and ’16 run together for me. My guess is fifth.

It’s actually seventh. You started third, led 43 laps and Jimmie Johnson won. You finished behind Matt Kenseth and ahead of Kurt Busch. Does that ring a bell at all?

No. Not at all. I’ve had a lot of forgettable races at Kansas, and I forgot that one, clearly.

7. Who is the best rapper alive?

That’s an oxymoron, because I don’t think rap is good. There can’t be a best rapper if I don’t think it’s good.

8. Who has the most punchable face in NASCAR?

Man, this one could get me in a lot of trouble. Is this like a driver? Media member? Has anyone gone media with their answer?

Not yet. If there’s someone in the media you want to take a swing at…

This is a very violent question.

It is, but Dale Jr. came up with this question for his 12 Questions last year, and I thought it was too good to pass up.

Most punchable face…definitely not Mike Helton. Let’s go ahead and write that one off. And not Steve O’Donnell. I mean, they’re big guys. Not going to end well.

Man, I don’t know if I have an answer for this one. You have stumped me. I’m trying really hard not to be a punching guy, and you have me thinking in a different gear.

Oh! I actually do know what this is — those damn Toyota mascots.

The ones that walk around with the big heads?

Yes. Yeah. They’re very punchable. Big heads, soft — you wouldn’t hurt anybody.

9. NASCAR enlists three famous Americans to be involved with your team for one race as part of a publicity push: Taylor Swift, LeBron James and Tom Hanks. Choose one to be your crew chief, one to be your spotter and one to be your motorhome driver.

I have to work backward from who shouldn’t do something. Taylor Swift should not be my bus driver, because that would not be good. There’d be some competition there and it’s not a good environment. That would not end well for anyone.

So that means she’d have to be spotter or crew chief, and I actually think she’d be a good crew chief. She has a very good strategy to what she does. I’ll give her credit.

I don’t think LeBron is a very good speaker, so I’m going to put him as my bus driver. Big guy, and bus drivers usually follow you around (to help with crowd control). Yeah, I like that idea.

So that leaves Tom Hanks as my spotter. And that’s perfect. Tom Hanks, we’ll go with him. He’s got one of America’s most lovable voices.

10. What is the key to finding the best pre-race bathroom?

Having a motorhome. I use the motorhome before the race.

Why don’t other drivers do that? No one has answered that way this year.

I don’t know. I guess they wait until the last minute. I can’t get inside their heads.

But having a motorhome is really important for a race car driver at this level. That’s hard to explain to people, because there’s some luxurious parts to having a motorhome. But there are also some basic necessities — traffic going to and from the races, the unforgiving schedule a race car driver has. But probably the one people don’t ever bring up is pure sanitary habits.

In the early days of my Xfinity career, before I had a motorhome, I would get sick at the racetrack almost every weekend. I’m absolutely convinced it’s from shaking hands and then eating — or from the bathrooms. Because the bathrooms at racetracks, let’s face it, are not good. So I’d get sick every race weekend. Once I started having a motorhome at the racetrack, I stopped getting sick.

That’s a big deal. You don’t want to be sick in a race car or during a race weekend; it hinders your ability to perform. So I try to use my motorhome for those things.

Not that there aren’t some luxurious things, but there are some practical applications.

What’s really interesting about NASCAR for me is in a lot of ways, it caters to having money and expensive things like that and then (also has) the blue collar (experience), camping in tents — but nothing in between. When I go to a football game or hockey game or basketball game, all the accommodations are right in the middle. There’s not a lot of rich guy accommodations at a basketball game. You could get a suite, but you’ll see a (celebrity) sitting courtside, and it’s just a normal chair. It’s not like he’s got a La-Z-Boy sofa or anything like that. He’s just closer. It’s not nicer, it’s closer.

Motorsports is set up so much differently. It’s either really blue collar or really nice and nothing in between. It’s so strange to me.

11. NASCAR misses the highlight reel value brought by Carl Edwards’ backflips and decides a replacement is needed. How much money would they have to pay you to backflip off your car after your next win?

Eh, I don’t think I’d take any money to do it. It’s not me. It’s not who I am, so I wouldn’t do it.

What if they offered you $5 billion?

Nah, it’s not me. It’s just money, Jeff.

I guess. But you could be the next Elon Musk.

Yeah, but I’d have to take it from someone else who would have the same ability. It’s not like they’d just be generating money, printing it. It’d have to come from someone else. So essentially, I’d be stealing from someone else.

OK. I guess I wouldn’t mind that, but…

I mean, what would keep the person who had that money they were going to give me from doing great things?

The fact they’re dumb enough to give you the money.

That’s free will. Who am I to interfere with that?

12. Each week, I ask a driver to give me a question for the next interview. Last week was Jimmie Johnson, and he wanted to know: Do you wear underwear beneath the fire-retardant gear worn under a firesuit?

No, because it’s not flame-resistant.

But wouldn’t that block the —

No. No, that’s not how it works. Flame retardant underwear, which I’m wearing, is meant to do a number of specific things — from wicking away sweat to being flame retardant to creating an air barrier to your skin. The whole concept is to create an air barrier. So with respect to that, if you put something in between it, in theory, you’re creating another pocket — but that pocket isn’t flame resistant, and it could light up.

I see. The more you know.

Like you should never wear a cotton T-shirt under a firesuit. And you should definitely, never ever — if you’re a racer out there reading this — wear like an Under Armour shirt.

Really?

Yes. They’re extremely flammable. If you wear one of those (workout-type) shirts underneath the race suit and it gets even a little hot, it will melt to your skin and fuse with it. So in a fire, you take what might have been first-degree burns and up them by wearing that. The worst possible situation, if you’re anywhere near fire, is to wear an Under Armour type shirt.

The next interview is Matt DiBenedetto. Do you have a question I can ask him?

Matt! You know what I was always curious about with Matt is how did he become so Reddit-popular. I’ve never understood that. Was it like a person he met that runs the page? Like how did that happen? I feel there’s a backstory there. I’m really curious about that, because every time something comes up on Reddit, it’s DiBenedetto.


Previous 12 Questions interviews with Brad Keselowski:

May 19, 2010

June 29, 2011

July 11, 2012

Oct. 2, 2013

Aug. 7, 2014

June 10, 2015

Sept. 29, 2016

 

News analysis: France family reportedly exploring NASCAR sale

What happened: According to a report by the Reuters wire service, the France family is exploring a sale of NASCAR. Reuters said investment bank Goldman Sachs is working with NASCAR to find a potential buyer. NASCAR declined comment when I asked about this story and I have not been able to confirm it independently — but Reuters is a highly respected outlet and there’s no reason to believe this is a false report.

What it means: This is the first development in what could ultimately become one of the most important stories in NASCAR history. That the founding France family is even considering selling the sport and cashing out is a massive development that could have significant repercussions. And if the sale actually happens? NASCAR as we know it is likely to change forever, perhaps undergoing a transformation that could be similar to Formula One’s makeover. F1 was sold two years ago for $4.4 billion to Liberty Media.

News value (scale of 1-10): Like an earthquake too large to be accurately measured by a seismograph, this one is off the charts. Depending on what happens and who buys it and what their intentions are, this could turn out to be the biggest NASCAR story ever.

Three questions: With the potential of a sale now becoming public, what kind of immediate impact could this have on the sport? What entity has both the interest and billion dollars (at least) it would take to purchase and run the most popular form of racing in America? Would a new owner be able to save NASCAR from its decade-long slump, or would such a change only accelerate the decline?