Folks, NASCAR, and IndyCar crossovers are common, even though stock car racing is miles apart from open wheels. Look at Tony Stewart. He’s got a championship in both! In general, motorsports crossovers are common, but an NFL to NASCAR one is something rare. Well, Joe Gibbs is an exception! He can coach anyone to a championship, be it NFL or NASCAR, winning three Super Bowls with the Washington Commanders and 5 Cup Series Championships with Joe Gibbs Racing! But he’s not part of the on-track crew, so technically, his case doesn’t count as a crossover. However, here we are talking about how many pit crew members in NASCAR are actually young NFL aspirants.
And the examples are endless. Like Rowdy Harrell, Alex Bowman’s tire carrier was a former member of three University of Alabama national championship teams as a linebacker. Mike Metcalf, who was the fueler on Kyle Larson’s Chip Ganassi Racing team, was a running back at Appalachian State before joining NASCAR. The list can go on and on! And this is something not many know. But recently, Brad Keselowski has explained the reasons behind this!
Why is Brad Keselowski making the NFL mad?
So, this whole discussion started with the NFL Combine. It’s where college football players display their physical endurance in front of NFL recruits and scouts. Similarly, Clemson University was holding its own NFL combine and here some scouts were looking for potential athletes who could be part of NASCAR. According to Journalist Jon Blau’s X post, “Clemson says all 32 NFL teams are at today’s pro day. NASCAR reps are also here looking for jackmen, fuel men, and the like. (Landon Walker, Sheridan Jones among those who have transitioned into racing crew work.)”
This had one curious fan point out how very few people know about ‘the college athlete to NASCAR crew pipeline.’ 2012 Cup Series Champion Brad Keselowski thought of shedding light on why this is the case. Keselowski, in his recent X post, wrote, “This always blows people away when we do before race meet and greets with the team. Simple why- we welcome top NCAA players with safer/longer careers and better pay while still filling the competitive needs of our athletes better than NFL Practice squad or CFL. This attracts a lot of amazing talent.”
This always blows people away when we do before race meet and greets with the team.
Simple why- we welcome top NCAA players with safer/longer careers and better pay while still filling the competitive needs of our athletes better than NFL Practice squad or CFL. This attracts a… https://t.co/ArcoT4wEPF
— Brad Keselowski (@keselowski) March 13, 2025
Basically, what Brad Keselowski is trying to say is that college football guys get higher pay and job security being a NASCAR crew member. Than them hoping to one day, make the NFL. Which, to be honest, not many do! The exact salaries are not disclosed, but according to some reports, the crew members responsible for changing the tires can earn around $1500 per race. The jackmen who help them and the fuelmen on the crew are said to earn about $3,000 per race. So you can do the math for 36 races per season. That’s over $100,000 for tire changers per season. And it’s not just monetary. A NASCAR pit crew member is far less injury-prone than a football player. So it’s kind of a win-win situation.
And in this modern era of NASCAR, the pit members have to be equally fit as drivers, if not more. A second here and there can be the difference between winning or losing a race. And a tire changer requires basically the same explosive strength that a linebacker needs to leap on opponents in games. And like we earlier spoke how it’s a more safer job than playing football, it can also be home to already injured players. Players who no longer can make it to a top football team but still have the strength to work.
Look at Landon Walker, he is William Byron’s fueler. But at one point, he was en route to a successful football career playing for the Cincinnati Bengals. However, an injury ended things for him. This is when, thanks to having a background in football, he was a perfect candidate for the pit crew. And don’t think this is a job that one gets easily. Like the NFL recruits athletes through the NFL Combine, Hendrick Motorsports has its own combine.
How do teams recruit footballers for the pit?
HMS, JGR, and Penske are top teams that actively recruit football athletes for their pit crews. And it’s simply because NASCAR is a game of margins. JGR president Dave Alpern had previously said, “While you are fighting for every position on the track, you can gain multiple spots on pit road. It can 100 percent win you a race and absolutely lose you a race.” And JGR has more than 50 such athletes in their squad. And most of the time, they are the ones who lead teams to victory. Look at last year’s stats: 14 races finished with a margin of victory of less than 0.1 seconds. So, you can imagine how crucial these athletes are to the team.
And they take this very seriously at HMS, where they hold an annual pit crew combine, to which such athletes are invited. Last year, it had 55 attendees. It’s a small 3-day camp, where HMS coaches and trainers find a half dozen or so athletes capable of jumping onto a track, gassing a car, and changing tires in less than 10 seconds. Former running back at the University of South Carolina, D.J. Twitty, was part of this recruitment drive last season. This can actually be a great future for athletes, but like us, even the athletes aren’t aware of this being an option.
Recently, Keith Flynn, Hendrick’s developmental pit crew director, said, “You don’t grow up playing pit crew in your backyard. Most of these football guys had no idea that this is even an opportunity. But once they come on campus and see the place, they get pretty excited.” And Flynn has been in this business for 15 years, so clearly, he knows what he’s talking about.
What do you think about this NFL, NASCAR crossover? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
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