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Social Spotlight with Parker Kligerman

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Each week, I ask a member of the racing community about their social media usage. Up next: Parker Kligerman, the driver and NBC Sports pit reporter who won last week’s Truck Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. (Note: This interview was conducted before the race.)

You have a pretty nice hauler here. (Sarcasm)

That stain over there that’s growing? We call it “The Stain” in the ceiling. If people could see this hauler, it’s pretty incredible we’re the team that finished one spot behind Kyle Busch at Kentucky. Here’s the thing: We spend our money on the race truck, and we’ve got a fast race truck this weekend. So this hauler doesn’t say much about our team.

Maybe The Stain needs its own parody account on Twitter.

No. No more parody accounts. I can’t. No, no.

You’ve reached your limit on NASCAR parody accounts?

By far. I think the parody account thing was cool, what, five years ago? And it’s kind of run its course. Sorry, @TheOrangeCone — maybe everyone knows who you are, so just put your name on there.

You try to stay up on the cutting edge. Like you know that parody accounts are out of style. But something that is in style more and more is YouTube and being a YouTuber. So one thing I just saw you launched this week is this channel called…Parker’s Parking Lot?

That’s what I do great is branding, because obviously that rolled right off the tongue. (Smiles) My sister always makes fun of me because whenever I come up with a new idea like, “I’m gonna brand it this!” It’ll be like seven words, and she’s like, “No one is gonna say that. It needs to be catchier.” So I’ve never been good at that.

But yeah, YouTube. My girlfriend (Shannon) has always been into YouTube and she had her vlogging channel and still does. But that’s not my thing. No offense to that kind of thing, but I kind of find that repulsive. It’s like a reality show, just filmed yourself. (Shannon) does a great job with them — I love watching hers — but it’s not like I would ever go on the Internet to watch someone else’s vlog.

Repulsive is a strong word.

Well, I just don’t like reality TV. I find it the lowest common denominator form of anything on the planet. At times I’d rather just drill my left toe out than watch reality TV.

And vlogging, it’s cool, but then it’s always the dubstep music and this thing and…I don’t know. It’s not my thing. But I do love car stuff and I’ve been trying forever to get into more and more car stuff, and I’ve done a lot of work for Jalopnik, which is an automotive website. They just launched a TV show. I’ve been trying to do more and more of that stuff, breaking into that world. And finally, I just said not many people are giving me that opportunity, so I’ve got time, I’ve got the ability to do this financially, so let’s just go do it and see what happens and have some fun.

It’s terrible — I say it’s aggressively average or massively underwhelming, and that’s basically how I’ve done everything in my life. I’ll always stay incredibly ambitious but aggressively average, and this YouTube channel is no different. So it’s my parking lot because everyone always talks about garages and things but no one gives love to parking lots. So I had to give love to the parking lot.

So Parker’s Parking Lot, which is an aggressively average YouTube channel, massively underwhelming, the video I saw is you’re talking about your Porsche and why it’s different than other ones and why it’s cheaper and it’s working and things like that. That’s your car, so what else is in your parking lot that you’re gonna be able to talk about to keep this YouTube channel going beyond this one video?

Oh, so you wanna know! We’ve got all sorts of things. We’ve got my girlfriend’s 2009 Jetta — nah, I’m kidding. (Laughs)

I got some of my friends that have high-end, nice sports cars that they’ve agreed to let me do some things with, which is cool. So like Car YouTube is kind of funny because it’s essentially a start up — friends and family, that’s how you get funding — but that’s how you get your cars, right? And then eventually if you get enough of a following, you eventually get press cars (for car reviews).

So I’ve done a little bit of press car stuff with Jalopnik, and seeing how that all works is pretty cool, but you’ve got to get to a solid following to be able to do that sort of car reviewing. My hope with it — although as I say, it’s never gonna reach this because I’m not really good at anything — is that it would be a different form of car reviewing and car understanding, something you’ve never seen from a race car driver. I think there’s a small void, a small niche maybe, that I’ve noticed that involved someone that can drive but also understand the greater understanding of what’s actually happening in the world.

How do you even go about building a YouTube channel? That seems pretty difficult to me. Unless something goes viral or takes off somehow, how do you build the subscriber thing? What’s your plan?

If you go to my bio on YouTube, it says, “Don’t call me a YouTuber; I have a job.” So that gives you an idea of my understanding of YouTube. I have no idea. If you figure it out, I’d like to know. I don’t know. (Laughs)

So my thing is, I think you just need to have content. With anything, content is king. So if you wanna be on TV, content is king. That’s why TV channels exist. Why NASCAR’s on TV, you need content, right? So you just gotta create great content and continually push it and hope that you’re making something that’s unique enough to interest people and from there, to interest them for two minutes, five minutes, 10 minutes. You just have to create something that hopefully people like. Or, on the flip side, you just do it for fun and if no one likes it, then screw them. (Laughs) It’s for you.

So I think right now we’re in the “for me” stage. We’re not getting those crazy views, but we’ll see where it goes. And maybe as we get rolling and get to do more of the concepts I want to do, we’ll take a little more of people who understand what we’re trying to do, we’ll see if people like it or not, and we’ll just keep doing it.

You’re already on TV, but you’d love for somebody to give you the opportunity to do a car show. But if that’s not happening immediately, you have the ability to go out and do your own thing. We’re sort of living in an amazing time that way.

So it is and it isn’t. I’ve kind of lamented that a little bit. It’s funny you bring that up because having been someone who in the TV world understands the value of production and the value of doing things right, the value of having incredible, talented people that are behind the camera, that run the cameras, that write the script, that do everything that you don’t see, I get a little bit torn when I create these videos and it’s just me and a friend. (There are) those amazing cameras and stuff that they have out there, and it gets to a level where people find it acceptable, right? Which OK, that’s fine that the appetite is there for it, but I don’t think it replaces the ultimate end goal of what a real TV production is, if that makes sense.

What’s funny is that you see these big YouTubers, big Instagrammers, hashtag #influencers, they eventually go to where they have a TV show and it’s this huge thing. And it’s like well wait a second, you have 10 million subscribers and I thought that was the end all be all, but it’s not, because no one on YouTube is tuning in for the production value of what an actual TV show is.

And though it might not be coming through your cable subscription — it might be through a streaming service — that’s considered a TV show that takes real production, real effort, real writing. All those things. It’s not like walking out of the bed with a camera and being like, “Hey world, you can do it, too. Anyone can be famous. Wooo.” Hashtag #everyoneisgreat.

So we know that you don’t like parody accounts, we know that you don’t like vloggers, and we know that you—

Well except my girlfriend’s vlogging. And Brennan Poole, he does a little vlogging, he’s cool too.

So Brennan Poole is cool and your girlfriend is cool but other than that you don’t like vloggers and you also don’t like influencer,  basically.

Basically, the Internet. (Laughs)

So what about social media do you enjoy and find valuable these days as we’re here in 2017?

I was trying to think about that, since I knew going into this interview that this was the path that it was going to take, because I have some very dark views of social media at times.

So you’ve got Twitter, which is basically for the media, for you and I to go and talk to other media members about how bad the world is at times with all the crazy stuff happening. And then some NASCAR drivers to reach out to other people. But that’s basically all you have on Twitter.

So you don’t view Twitter as a mass thing for the fans, it’s just, influencers — sorry, you don’t like that term — but basically influencers talking to other influencers.

Well Twitter is for people who are actually famous to be interactive with their fans. So what I mean by that is that you see a YouTuber that has a bajillion million followers on YouTube and they have zero followers on Twitter. And no one interacts with them, right?

So I have a theory that there’s actual famous people in the world: Dale Earnhardt Jr. — actually famous. He creates an Instagram, he creates a YouTube, it’s got millions of followers instantly. But Mr. YouTuber who starts a TV show, there’s no guarantee it’s gonna survive, because he might only have his niche viewers on YouTube, that group that likes YouTube. So I think that’s what’s interesting there.

Sorry, back to Twitter. You’ve got the actual famous people and the media and we all interact, I love it. It’s the modern-day newspaper respect that you get you can use that way.

Instagram is basically Playboy on the Internet. Think about it: All any guy has on their following list is naked girls, travel places, cars and race cars and then occasionally food. So everything that was in Playboy magazine for the last 50 years is on Instagram. That’s all that is.

And then you have YouTube, which is like your video replacement sort of feeling for people who want to put their life out there in a different way, a reality show, vlogging sort of thing. So I think you have your niche markets for each of them.

The last one you have to mention is Snapchat, right? And when you did this interview with Jenna Fryer’s daughter (Sydnee), she talked about how her friends had fake Instagrams and that sort of thing, and they didn’t have Facebook. I’ve always had this theory that 20 years from now, it’s gonna be more about disconnecting than connecting.

So Facebook’s gonna be gone other than just being able to watch their content, because they’ll become a TV channel eventually. Twitter will most likely be interactions then, but things that keep you hidden and allow you to observe the world like watch a YouTube channel and not have an account, that sort of stuff is gonna be more successful. That’s my thought.

As you mentioned, Sydnee Fryer was talking about how she’s trying to not put herself out there and she and her friends are deleting things they put out there and having fake accounts so people can’t track them. It’s almost like this next generation that’s coming along has seen what the first generation on social media has done and been like, “Nah.”

One hundred percent. How creepy is it if you go on the Internet and you’ve been looking at something on your phone and then you go on your computer and the first ad is all the things you’ve been looking at or a competitor to what you’ve been looking at? Like that’s gotten so creepy that you’ve got Google, who basically announced recently they’re gonna allow you to tell them if things are too creepy.

I think that as a whole, now that’s not connected to just having a Facebook, but all the data they’re collecting, I really think that in years to come, it’ll be cooler to Google yourself and see nothing.

When I was growing up in high school, people called me “dot com” because I had ParkerKligerman.com — because I was a race car driver — and if you Googled my name, there was tons of results. That was cool. Fast forward to now, that’s probably not cool.

That’s true. It’ll be like, “What’s up, bro? How many search results do you have about you?” “Dude, you can’t find me at all, man.”

Completely dark on the Internet. Sweet.

Before we go any further, is this the most opposite to my co-worker Rutledge Wood’s interview? I read that whole thing because that is so Rut, and I love him to death. He’s the funniest dude. But we couldn’t be more polar opposites. Like I love that he does it, that’s him, and the thing about him is that it’s so genuine that he’s about hugging people ad spreading love in the world and all that sort of thing, and he’s completely genuine about it.

But I do make fun of him constantly, like I was saying earlier with the YouTube guys and Instagram. It’s like, “You too can follow your dreams! Go get it! Wednesday, positivity!” And I’m just like, oh my gosh. I literally want to drill a hole in my left toe. Again. So I don’t know. Anyway.

I feel terrible for your left toe. Your left toe seems to be the one getting —

It’s because it’s the braking foot, so as a race car driver, I need the right one to work better.

Let’s say that all of this is happening with the next generation. NASCAR and even the media are struggling to find an audience and a foothold in the generations coming up. As a writer, what do I do? As a TV person, what do you do? Or as a race car driver, I don’t want to discount that, sorry.

That’s OK, most people do. I’m not much of one, am I?

But what does NASCAR do and what does this industry do to latch onto a very changing dynamic in social media?

It’s been the same thought for me forever, since I heard this incredible quote from this champion Cup Series driver talking to another race car driver that wanted to come try NASCAR and he said, “Stay in your niche.” And I think racing, motorsports, cars, YouTubing, everything is going to continually find its niche.

There’s more and more options. Just think about the streaming entertainment cable game, right? You have traditional cable with traditional players like NBCSN, NBC, and they put out amazingly great content. That’s what we do, we bring the sports to you. But then we have people like Twitter and Amazon and Netflix and eventually Facebook, they’re all gonna want to enter the streaming game because they believe video is the way forward, right? Someone’s gonna win that game, and it might as well be them.

The thing is, not everyone’s going to win, and secondly, it’s just gonna continually fracture the market. So there’s going to be more and more options and therefore there’s going to be less eyes on each and every product because people are going to have more choice of network. So I think as the entertainment world as a whole, you’re just going to continually have to understand your niche and you’re going to have to become more understanding of a lower number.

So I wrote a thing a couple months ago, it was about Seinfeld and how in 2004 Friends had the highest-rated scripted TV show. It was like 66 million people watched the finale. Fast forward, and the most watched show on TV right now gets like 15 million, 18 million, and that’s Big Bang Theory. That’s just scripted shows, not counting sports. Obviously, NFL is the most watched show on TV.

Nonetheless, the point was that only in the span of 12 or 13 years, you’ve lost essentially 40 million people watching because there’s that much more options, and that’s the deal. It’s just going to continue to fracture and continue to find new normals of what is acceptable and what is considered big. In 10 years, the biggest thing on TV streaming might only get 10 million people watching, which 20 years ago was unacceptable and now it might be the biggest thing there is.

That’s interesting because the general philosophy means maybe it’s best to stop chasing an audience. Make the audience you currently have the best it can be, and you can sort of build from there. Because no matter how popular it is, it’s never gonna be that Friends finale. So you have to sort of be content in some ways with what you have. Brands and everybody, whether it’s a reporter or whoever need to refocus on how they present their content that way.

Yeah, you’re doing the new Patreon thing and you’re on the cutting edge of all that. Obviously, no one has the answer. Otherwise, we’d do it. I saw a new form of idea of journalism, a buddy of mine showed me this, it’s called “Purple” where it’s kind of like Patreon, but you could be like, “I’m an expert in journalism.” And people could pay $8 a month to have you on tap through cell phone, through writing, through anything, to ask questions and therefore become more educated in journalism. Or cell phones. Or cars. Whatever is it. Car buying advice, that sort of thing. So that’s an interesting thing and it was for basically writers and journalists who are so involved in their field, they’re experts in it.

I think there’s all sorts of different things, but that goes back to that you have a niche. You have a niche, you have a Patreon deal for NASCAR journalism and that’s your niche. That’s how you’re funding this deal, you have a group that really identifies with your content, identifies with what you’re doing, and is therefore willing it fund it. And that’s what it comes down to: people willing to fund it. Is it gonna be advertising, is it gonna be people paying for it? That’s the two models there is. So as long as advertisers can find value in what you’re doing, you probably have a future. If they don’t, you’ll end up like Parker Kligerman. (Laughs)

You’ve talked about drilling through your left toe and the things that irritate you. So with all that said and this view of social media, why are you still on it? Why do you continue to be on it? What value do you personally see in it for yourself?

One, you have traditional advertising sponsorship race team stuff that you just gotta have a following these days. It’s your ability to rank your social value to them and your advertising value. It really is. You have that show Black Mirror which takes a really draconian view on all futuristic things, and they did one on Instagram. You’re rating people constantly, but what social media is for people who are trying to prove, “Hey, I have a following.”

And then I do enjoy a lot of aspects of it. I love Twitter, I’m on it 24/7. I love great journalism like you produce and great writing. I do love to write. I’m great at the older things maybe, sadly. But then YouTube, this kind of came about and I’ve never had more fun in my life than filming these videos and editing them and doing that sort of thing. I think there’s definitely great, positive things. It’s amazing, as you said, even when you hit a roadblock in life, you’re trying to do something, it allows you to have an avenue to pursue that in a way that didn’t exist 20 years ago. But there’s obviously the dark side to it, too.

So I don’t know what it is I enjoy when I think about this more further, like what is one thing I could point out. … I enjoy comedy. I enjoy really well thought out comedic stuff and if you’re creating that, then I’m definitely going to respect you in all ways. Like I can’t do that. I know it for a fact. So when I see that sort of thing, I’m like, “Damn, that’s cool. Well done.”

You did have your friend dress as a hot dog in your YouTube video.

No one knows who the hot dog is. That’s the point. Who knows if he’s my friend?

I just assumed he was.

No, see. “Assume” makes a what out of you and me?

I assumed that in order to get somebody to dress up as a hot dog and prance around in your YouTube video to co-star with you that it would have to be a pretty close friend.

No. Who knows who he is? He’s just a hot dog. And he has an interesting car. He’s a hot dog. That’s become apparent. I’m not exactly sure how he and I met or where, but we have. I don’t even know where he lives. I don’t even know what he does when we’re not filming. He just sort of pops up when I’m filming and then finds a way to be in the video and just disappears. So if anyone knows where he his, his number or anything, I would like to get that.

Basically the hot dog is The Stig of your YouTube video?

I don’t think he know what The Stig is. I don’t know anything about him. He doesn’t speak. He has no use of words. None whatsoever.

I’m fascinated to see where this aggressively average YouTube channel evolves, along with the hot dog. Thank for you joining us and for sharing your dark thoughts on social media future.

I know, I hate that it’s so dark. Was it too dark? (Laughs) Was it?

One good thing that we have going on is that on my Truck for Talladega, we have a sticker from Peggy Miller, who had breast cancer for 23 years, and she’s actually my crew chief’s mother-in-law. She just recently passed away, but since getting breast cancer, she started a self-help group in the Abington, Virginia area, the Bristol, Virginia area, and it rose to have 100 people that were attending at times. And so it’s a really cool thing, because we do a lot for survivors of cancer and people who are helping at times, but not for the unsung heroes who are trying to help others cope with cancer, and so we have that all over our truck this week. And that’s a positive thing, so that’s another Rutledge Wood positive story. We’re bringing light to that, and we hope to get her in victory lane because that’d be a really cool story.

I don’t think the interview was that dark.

I was being more facetious with most of my things. I think you should, as Rutledge Wood would say, chase your dream and you can do it, too. Hug the next person next to you. Love. Peace. Send love. Hashtag #love.

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12 Questions with Ty Dillon

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The 12 Questions series of interviews continues with Germain Racing’s Ty Dillon, who finished 11th last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway. Dillon’s average finish this season is 20.6, which is up from the No. 13 car’s average finish of 25.6 last year.

1. How much of your success is based on natural ability and how much has come from working at it?

That’s a good question. I think 85 percent of your success is from natural ability, which stems from your alertness and keeping yourself out of trouble. Just the natural ability to be running at the end of a race is a big thing to being successful in this sport.

But if you don’t have that next 15 percent, working hard and studying in the sport, doing all the things that you need to do, you can’t compete at the highest level and be successful. It seems like it’s a smaller percentage, but it’s a very important percentage.

2. Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards and now Dale Earnhardt Jr. have all either retired in the last couple years or will retire soon. What’s your pitch for fans of theirs to become fans of yours?

Just get to know me. I’m a pretty interesting guy on and off the racetrack. I’m pretty outgoing, I think. once you get to know me. And I’m pretty aggressive, and I have certain styles that are my own and unique, and as a rookie, you can learn my style and who I am and kind of grow with me as I grow in the sport.

3. What is the hardest part of your job away from the racetrack?

The hardest part of my job away from the racetrack is just keeping myself relaxed throughout the season, or just keeping my mind in check. With so many appearances and being at the racetrack from Thursday to Sunday, and then you’re at the shop with meetings and on the phone, I think it’s important to make sure that you detox your mind a little and get your sanity checked back throughout the week. That way, you’re fresh every weekend to give it all you’ve got.

I thought you were going to say it was not being able to check your fantasy football team on Sundays.

That’s pretty troubling, too. That’s one of the first things I check when I get out of the race car. (Laughs)

4. Let’s say a fan spots you eating dinner in a nice restaurant. Should they come over for an autograph or no?

Yeah, definitely. Maybe just wait until I’m not eating, or wait until a good moment. But I always like to meet fans at anytime and I always want to be approachable because I’ve got a lot of people that I’m a big fan of, and I would like them to treat me the same way.

5. What’s a story in NASCAR that doesn’t get enough coverage?

I think our rookies. Personally, we haven’t gotten as much coverage for how all of us have ran in our different situations. Daniel Suarez has only been racing in NASCAR for a couple of years and Erik Jones has been running up front and competing for wins at a lot of races. And then for my team, we’ve been running the best our team has ran in a long time and led more laps than all the (Richard Childress Racing) cars combined in our rookie season.

So there’s a lot of good stories that kind of get washed under the table with Junior retiring — which is obviously a huge story — and so much going on in our sport. But I think if our sport’s gonna grow and we need these fans to be attached to new drivers, why not the rookie class? And I think there should be more attention drawn to that.

That’s a good point. Honestly, just sitting here thinking about it as you’re saying that, I’m like, “Oh yeah, I forgot you’re a rookie.”

For sure. But I probably seem like the least “rookiest” — I don’t know if that’s even a word — because I’ve been around the sport for a while and kind of paid my dues at every level. I’m still 25 and I’m still a rookie in the sport.

6. Who is the last driver you texted?

Other than my brother (Austin), probably Bubba Wallace or (Ryan) Blaney or Denny Hamlin. We’re all in a basketball league together so we’re constantly talking to each other about stuff outside of racing, mainly sports stuff.

So you’re part of the Hoop Group? Is that right?

Yeah, I’m in the Hoop Group. I led the league in rebounds last year, so I’m not really the offensive star, but I’m a hustle defensive guy.

You’re not one of the biggest guys — but you’re still getting the rebounds?

Oh yeah, I can jump out of the building. I think Blaney and I have the best hops in the league. I’m a little taller, so I can get the rebounds.

7. Do you consider race car drivers to be entertainers?

I do. I think we’re definitely entertainers when people tune in on the weekends and are watching us on TV. If you’re being watched on TV, you’re an entertainer. That’s just part of what makes our sport what it is, and what launched our sport into the next level was a fight on the backstretch, and that was entertainment, you know? And some of the things that we’re able to do in the race cars are what really spikes interest in our sport, and that’s all entertainment to me.

8. What is your middle finger policy on the racetrack?

I use it a ton. (Laughs) I probably use it too much. It’s an easy go-to to let somebody know how you feel. Honestly, I think there should be a middle finger cam on the cars, because I’m pretty sure every single driver throws at least four to five birds a race, and it would be pretty interesting.

I’d like to see a tally of that. Like, “Oh look, he just threw his fifth middle finger!”

Just put a camera on each straightaway, because no one wants to do it in the middle of the corner. Some people do it in the middle of the corner and that’s pretty impressive. But you can probably catch them, because there’s enough guys with white gloves and stuff to just keep a tally someday. That would be a good deal for one the TV shows.

A couple drivers this year have answered this question and said it’s an instant wreck if somebody does that to them. Are you worried about that at all?

I haven’t been instantly wrecked yet and I’ve done it a lot, so I’d like to know who that is.

9. Some drivers keep a payback list in their minds. Do you also have a list for drivers who have done you a favor on the track?

Yeah, I think it goes both ways. I think it’s kind of “Race the way you want to be raced” — the old cliche. When somebody every single week wants to bear down your doors and make it impossible for you to pass in situations in the race where it’s really not necessary, you remember that and you return the favor. And when you’re faster than somebody and you run them down and they get out of your way, you remember it because you race so many laps so many times a year that things like that come back around. So there’s definitely a rolling tally on who’s racing you hard and who races you good.

10. Who is the most famous person you’ve had dinner with?

That’s a good one. I’ve had some dinner with some really famous people. Probably most recently we went to dinner in Charlotte with Steven Soderbergh, the (director). So that was really cool, really interesting. He produced the Oceans movies and then Logan Lucky that just came out. I was talking to him and hearing some of his stories and talking about his profession was really cool.

11. What’s something about yourself you’d like to improve?

I carry a lot of stress on my shoulders and I really want to be the best at everything I do, and sometimes in racing that makes me a little more stressed out than I really should be. And I allow it to impact me a little deeper than I should. Hopefully, as I grow out of being a rookie and get more seasoned in the sport, you grow more comfortable in what you’re doing and in your ability. I guess to be able to leave the moment in the past every weekend so you can reset and be ready for next weekend.

But it’s really hard in this sport, because it’s so “What have you done for me now?” to not let one bad weekend carry into the next, and I kind of struggled with that this year because it’s been up and down, this being my first season. I think that’s kind of the rookie wall that everybody goes through. So hopefully that’s one area that I can grow in. And I know I will. My wife (Haley) does a good job on keeping me on equal ground and keeping me grounded and keeping my head in the right spot. And with a little girl on the way too, I think that’s gonna help.

12. The last interview I did was with Trevor Bayne, and he said he struggles at times when he doesn’t make the playoffs with keeping his head up and going through the grind of the rest of the season. He was wondering if you have any tips for what you’ve been doing to finish out the season strong even though you didn’t make the playoffs.

It’s kind of hard being a rookie going through it for the first time, but I think my plan, since the Chase has started, is to start building momentum for next year and start racing for next year. That’s kind of how this sport goes: you start preparing for 2018 in August, November, October, that time, and if you start rolling good momentum at the end of this year, it really jump-starts you into next year. So that’s kind of been my game plan.

Next week I’m going to the F1 race in Austin, so I’m going to potentially do a 12 Questions with one of the Haas F1 Team drivers. Is there any question you have that I could ask to them?

Who do they think are more athletic: F1 drivers or NASCAR drivers?

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NASCAR planning to mandate standard pit gun beginning in 2018

Over the last few years, race teams have poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into developing pit guns that help gain valuable time for tire changers.

But that will change next year. Two people with knowledge of the situation told JeffGluck.com on Monday that NASCAR is planning to move to a standard pit gun — manufactured by Paoli — starting in 2018.

That means teams like Joe Gibbs Racing, which was known for its pit gun development, will lose a potential advantage next season.

When asked about the pit gun change, NASCAR issued the following statement:  “NASCAR is working on a number of initiatives to enhance both the performance and safety of our sport. One of the many competition initiatives considered is the future of pit equipment. We will provide an update on some of the initiatives at the end of the 2017 season. In the meantime, our focus remains on the exciting championship battles that are playing out across all three national series.”

NASCAR has looked for ways to remove costs from race teams, and standardizing the pit guns could potentially create more parity at the same time.

There’s also a possibility NASCAR could monitor lug nuts through the guns, because some teams have already figured out a way to get the pit guns to tell them if the tire changer properly secured a lug nut or not.

It’s unclear how NASCAR could roll out the change, but the sanctioning body could potentially pass out the pit guns at the track each week in order to prevent them from being altered.

This will be a major change for the sport’s tire changers, who can currently customize pit guns to fit their hand speed.

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The Top Five: Breaking down the Talladega playoff race

Five thoughts after Sunday’s playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway…

1. Actually, it wasn’t a bad race

Talladega was a restrictor-plate demolition derby unlike anything we’d seen in a long time.

— Only 14 cars were still running at the finish — 14! — and only eight of those were still held together enough to actually race for the win.

— The 11 cautions tied a race record! Yep, none of the 96 other races run at Talladega have ever had more cautions than Sunday.

— Kyle Larson was a lap down — and finished 13th! Trevor Bayne, whose car appears on the crash report twice, finished third!

Given all that, it’s understandable if people look at the results and go, “Ugh, what a joke.” Not to go all #WellActually on you, but it really was a good race up until the point the carnage broke out.

Think about it: The first Big One didn’t take place until there were 17 laps to go. Prior to that, the field was two-, three- and even four-wide in a brilliant display of how good plate racing can be. There were lead changes and strategy and dicey moves, and no one spent time hanging at the back trying to avoid the wreck.

They actually raced.

Only at the end, when it was Go Time, did it really get crazy and kind of ridiculous. But that’s not really a surprise; after all, it’s Talladega.

As long as cars aren’t flipping or flying — which they didn’t on Sunday — the rest of it is just side effect of what was a pretty thrilling show.

2. Master Kes

For a last-lap pass, there didn’t seem to be too much excitement from the crowd at Talladega. The fans seemed deflated after Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished seventh, so even Brad Keselowski’s thrilling move didn’t save the day for them.

But it was fitting that Keselowski won Earnhardt’s final plate race, because it was a symbolic passing of the torch from the best plate racer of this generation to the next.

Keselowski has now won at Talladega five times and six wins overall in restrictor-plate points races. Earnhardt finished his career with six Talladega wins and had 10 plate wins in points races.

Though Talladega unquestionably contains a lot of randomness in surviving long enough to be there at the end, the actual winning moves often require a very specific skill. And Keselowski might be the best at it.

We often see the race leader be able to block a late run. But Ryan Newman couldn’t do it — granted, he had some degree of nose damage — and Keselowski ended up playing the finish perfectly. He deserves a ton of credit for the execution.

“You’d love to be able to pat yourself on the back and say it’s all skill, but there is some luck that’s involved in this,” Keselowski said. “… You know when you come here that probably three out of every four races you’re going to get caught up in a wreck or something like that happens.

“But the races where you have the good fortune, where you don’t get caught up in a wreck or you don’t have something break or any of those things, you have to take those races, run up front and win them. And I think that’s what we’ve been able to do.”

Junior Nation probably doesn’t give a crap about all this, given their disappointment, but it’s important to recognize we’re watching a rare and unique talent when Keselowski has the chance to win at Talladega.

3. Playoff race?

Fans still give Kyle Busch a hard time for saying Talladega and Daytona aren’t “real” racing. But seriously — is it? And does it belong in the playoffs?

Those questions are likely to pop up after a day when only two of the 12 playoff drivers finished on the lead lap.

“I’m sure there are a lot of competitors who say they wish (Talladega wasn’t in the playoffs), because you can’t control your own fate,” Denny Hamlin said after finishing sixth. “In no other sport does your competition make a mistake and it cost you. In our sport, it does.”

Hamlin suggested to NBC Sports last week that Talladega should be the regular season finale instead of a playoff race.

And indeed, that seems like a better solution. It doesn’t feel right in a lot of ways for the outcome of a championship to be impacted by an event with so much randomness. Because, let’s be honest: Kyle Busch was right.

Whether it’s “real racing” or not, though, it definitely won’t be changing anytime soon.

“I don’t know that there’s a desire to have a different product here at this type of racetrack,” said Ryan Newman, who was once one of the most outspoken drivers against plate racing.

4. Dale Jr.’s health

There were tens of thousands of people rooting for Earnhardt to win his final restrictor-plate race, which felt like his last, best shot at a victory before he retires.

Personally, I was just hoping he made it through the race without getting another concussion.

That sounds sort of dark, but it’s the truth. All season, I’ve thought in the back of my head: “I wonder if he can get through the plate races without suffering a huge hit.” And — luckily — he did. He had to make it through three close calls to do it, but he survived.

“This was one that I was worried about in the back of my mind,” Earnhardt said afterward. “I was a little concerned. But you can’t win the race if you race scared, and I’ve raced scared here before, and you don’t do well when that happens. So you have to block it out and just go out there and take the risks and hope that it’s just not your day to get in one of those accidents. And it wasn’t.”

Earnhardt fans didn’t get the win they wanted, but this was also a victory: Their driver competed for the win all day and left with his health intact, meaning he just has to make it five more races.

Wrecks can happen anywhere, but the chances sure are a lot lower at other tracks.

And along those lines, Earnhardt felt that by racing hard, he proved something to the critics who charged he has been too timid at times this season.

“Anyone who questions our desire to be here and compete this year and our desire to run hard and face can look at the risks that we took this afternoon, knowing that any of those crashes would have probably given me a bit of an injury that would have held me out of the rest of the season,” he said.

5. Pointed situation

Kyle Busch might not make it past Round 2 of the playoffs.

That’s crazy, isn’t it? All year long, it’s pretty much been a Martin Truex Jr./Busch/Kyle Larson show. Those three seemed to be the main title contenders going into the playoffs, and the conventional wisdom was Busch was at least a lock for Round 3 thanks to his 41 playoff points.

Welp…

Busch is currently seven points behind Jimmie Johnson for the final playoff spot entering Kansas. And Matt Kenseth is just one point behind him, so it’s not like he can focus just on beating one or two drivers next week.

Yeah, he could go win there — Busch has five straight top-five finishes at Kansas, including a victory last year in the spring. But there’s a very real chance he could fail to make the cut.

On a similar note, Johnson could be out if he doesn’t have a good run — which is also hard to believe.

I doubt many of us would have predicted two of the elite Toyotas or the seven-time champion would be in danger of failing to make it past Round 2, but that’s the case. And it’s going to make Kansas a very interesting cutoff race.

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DraftKings Fantasy NASCAR picks: Talladega playoff race

I’m playing DraftKings this season and will be posting my picks here each week. Disclosure: If you want to play and sign up using this link, DraftKings will give my website a commission.

Last race’s results: Played $4 Brake Pad contest. Finished 650th of 1,300. Won $0.

Season results: $97 wagered, $104.50 won in 25 contests.

This week’s contest: Due to stupid Alabama law, I cannot submit an entry this week.

Talladega strategy: Don’t look at practice times, just look at qualifying and focus on place differential. In this year’s Daytona 500, the perfect lineup was made up of drivers who all started 30th or lower. Try to find drivers in the back of the field who can make up spots, regardless of how much salary cap money you leave on the table. It’s all about place differential.

Talladega picks: 

— Aric Almirola ($6,300): Since the start of last season, Almirola has the third-best average finish in restrictor-plate races of any driver (11.67, which is behind only Kurt Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.). That makes him worth including, especially since he starts lower (26th) than other expert plate drivers.

— Michael McDowell ($6,000): He starts 29th in his first plate race since finishing fourth in the Daytona July race. He crashed in the Talladega spring race, but was 15th in the Daytona 500, 16th at Talladega on year ago and 10th in last year’s Daytona July race. Another good value pick.

— David Ragan ($5,800): A past Talladega winner who has finished 10th and sixth in his past two restrictor-plate races — and he starts 33rd? Put him on the team.

— Landon Cassill ($5,600): He starts 30th and his Talladega history in the last three years includes results of fourth and 11th (twice). Even if he gets a top 20, that’s picking up some decent points for you.

— Brendan Gaughan ($5,300): His three restrictor-plate races this season in the Cup Series include finishes of 11th and seventh. Pretty incredible value if he can do it again at Talladega after starting 35th.

— Cole Whitt ($5,000): He starts 38th, but that’s an opportunity. Before blowing an engine in the July Daytona race, Whitt’s previous restrictor-plate finishes were 16th (at Talladega in the spring), 18th (Daytona 500), 11th (July Daytona race last year) and 18th (Talladega spring race last year). So…hello!

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Stage points will change the face of Talladega race

Sunday’s race has a chance to be the most action-packed playoff event at Talladega in years — at least from start to finish.

That might sound like hyperbole — the kind you see in all the TV commercials that try to get people to tune in — but there’s reason to believe it might actually be true.

Why? Because two major changes have made it to where playoff drivers simply cannot afford to ride around for 500 miles and wait to race until the end.

First of all, Talladega is now the second race of Round 2 instead of the elimination race. That means drivers have less of a points cushion than they would if two races were already under their belts, so they can’t just try and protect a lead.

Second, the stage points are going to be a massive factor in shaping the race. Playoff drivers absolutely cannot afford to lay back and pass up the opportunity to get a potential 20 stage points.

That means the scramble for stage points at the end of Stages 1 and 2 — which conclude on Lap 55 and Lap 110, respectively — might be extremely dicey.

“We’ve seen in the past that drivers come in here and say, ‘I’ve just got to finish 25th,'” Joey Logano said Friday. “Then they just ride around the back all day until it’s the end of the race and they go up and finish 25th.

“Well, that’s pretty boring. Fans don’t want to see that, so NASCAR has made some good decisions, I think, by making this not the final race in this round, and then also adding the stages you can’t afford to give up those stage points.”

Let’s say a driver gets a fifth-place finish but ends up with no stage points. That’s only 35 points, which Logano noted isn’t that great of a day considering five drivers scored more than 40 points last week at Charlotte.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who needs to rely on stage points to overcome his current deficit, predicted “at least 10 of us racing really hard for that.”

“There are a lot of us within 20 points of each other, so I think that’s gonna be key is how hard we’re gonna race for those stage points,” he said.

Stenhouse isn’t the only one looking at stage points as a key factor in the race. Chase Elliott said his philosophy has been his team needs to use stage points to make up for a lack of playoff points at the start of each round.

“Stage points are really our only way of catching up,” he said. “That’s something I have looked at and something everyone else is looking at, too.”

That said, Elliott doesn’t think those points will be worth making an overly aggressive move at the possible expense of the overall finish.

“I definitely think there is going to be some emphasis on running well in the stages, but I just hope that everybody will want to get to the end as much as they want to have stage finishes, too,” he said. “So I really don’t know, but I could see it being pretty wild to try and get those points.”