Episode 33: Ryan Patton, Tire Carrier for Hendrick Motorsports Famed No. 24 Chevrolet in NASCAR Cup Series, Talks with Says Who Sports

Says Who Sports with John Dauphin

Ryan Patton, Tire Carrier for Hendrick Motorsports famed No. 24 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Cup Series, talks with Says Who Sports about the thrill of winning the Daytona 500 with driver William Byron in '24, making the Championship 4 in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs for a second year in a row last season, his championship expectations for ’25, and how he and his pit crew teammates on the No. 24 team are readying for a shot at a repeat Daytona 500 win in February.
Patton recalls his rookie season at Hendrick Motorsports as a member of the pit crew for Jimmie Johnson and Crew Chief Chad Knaus on the legendary No. 48 Chevrolet in 2013, including what it was like to win his first Daytona 500 and Cup Series Championship that season and learn under the tutelage of Knaus.
Patton, who grew up in a racing family in small-town Delphos, Ohio, graduated from Ohio State and was a member of the strength and conditioning team for the Ohio State football program under Eric Lichter, shares the powerful story of the visit to Hendrick Motorsports in 2011 that changed his life and launched a career as a competitor with the winningest organization in NASCAR history, as witnessed by the organization’s record 300-plus Cup Series wins and 14 Cup Series championships.
Patton explains how many of the same core skills and fundamentals necessary to become an elite college football player are essential to being a pit crew member on a premier team in the NASCAR Cup Series, especially as the evolution of pit stops has led to drastically lower stop times and made pit crew athletes possessing a hybrid combination of top-level speed and mobility a must-have for success.
Patton also shares stories about a few of the craziest happenings he has experienced on pit road, his favorite NASCAR tracks and why, watching his favorite driver Dale Earnhardt win the first Cup race he ever attended at Michigan International Speedway, the leadership influence on him of HMS owner Rick Hendrick and former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel, importance of passing on insight gained from many years in the sport to the next wave of youngsters in the developmental pit crew funnel at Hendrick Motorsports, and much more!