NFL Super Bowl champion Jason Kelce has recalled his recent experience in the NASCAR world, including an 'awesome but terrifying' ride with Cup Series star William Byron at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
In a surprise turn of events, Kelce appeared at Talladega Superspeedway last weekend and took part in the O'Reilly Series event, performing pit crew duties on Corey Day's No. 17 team.
Kelce aided with the gassing of the car and also the signposting for the pit stall, fully kitted out in Hendrick Motorsports pit crew gear and fireproof thermals.
The NFL star proved a good luck charm, too, ending up in Victory Lane post-race after Day took his first-ever NASCAR victory in the event.
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Speaking on his New Heights podcast with his brother, Travis Kelce, as well as discussing the above, Kelce touched on another NASCAR experience he had recently, which included a 190mph run in a car alongside Byron at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“I am a Talladega champ, that's right,” Kelce said. "I went down there on behalf of Hendrick Motorsports. I was filming some things over at their headquarters in Charlotte. I've been doing some exercises to really learn what it's like to compete in the sport of NASCAR.
“I went out there, I trained with the athletes, I was learning their techniques, all the things that go into coordinating a pit stop. These guys are changing tires, gassing these cars all the way up in sometimes under nine seconds on the stop. They’ll change all four tires, put gas in the vehicle, and then get it out on its way. It's remarkable the coordination and timing and expertise that goes into that.
“I also went out on the track with William Byron, who drove me around at over 190 miles an hour around the Charlotte Motor Speedway, which was f*****g awesome and terrifying all at the same time.
“I then got to drive my own vehicle. They did not let me drive 190 miles per hour, but I still drove faster than I’ve ever driven in my life…they do it by RPM. This thing had a regulator on that capped you at 5000 RPMs, and they said at one point, I went 140, everywhere else I was going 120, so somewhere between 120 and 140.”
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Jason Kelce 'had a blast' at Talladega
Later, Kelce opened up on his experiences at Talladega, revealing that he had a blast, and that TV does not do the sport justice compared to being up close and seeing it with your own eyes.
“Not only were we there on behalf of Hedrick Motorsports to witness what it's like to be in a pit crew, to see a race firsthand, to hear on the radio everything that's happening between the driver and the pit crew and the chief, we were also there to just experience Talladega,” Kelce continued.
“It was my first time at a NASCAR event, and it was awesome,” he added. “All the other teams, the way it's set up, the people that were there, the energy, like when you watch it on TV, it does not do it justice.
“Everybody has said that to me for years. I went to the Indy 500 in college and felt similarly, but there's a level of having all of your senses engaged, and watching these machines operate at this level that takes over you when you're there live.
“You literally feel these cars coming by you, not just revving of the motors, right? You feel the ground moving and shaking in some ways. It is a very sensory-driven experience. Whether you're in there, whether you're out there sitting on an RV watching outside of it, it was fun.
“It was a blast, especially now that I know more about it rather than just watching them go around in circles and being like, ‘I don’t know how most of this works.’”
If you want to hear Kelce's full quotes, check out the New Height podcast, which we've embedded below.
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