Tampa native Aric Almirola might man the wheel of the No. 43 on the race track, but it’s Jeff Nuendorf who gets it there. Jeff drives the hauler that is home to the Richard Petty team’s No. 43 with Thursday night serving as the opening number of Speedweeks, with the hauler’s synchronized arrival into the speedway.
Sitting in the cab of the 80,000-ton hauler with Jeff, he pointed out how the parade of haulers into the speedway gets started. "We follow the 6, and the 13 follows us," said Jeff.
From the team's home in Charlotte, to Daytona, and now into the speedway itself; Jeff has been driving for different NASCAR teams for the past 12 years. Sound like a dream job?
"You get the question asked a lot when you are at the truck stop fueling up and people see you," said Jeff. "All they see is the fancy truck, the chrome, the lights and they think you just get to the race track and lounge around all weekend and watch the race."
It’s not that easy. Truck driver is just Jeff’s first title. Not only is he responsible for keeping track of all the equipment loaded onto the hauler, he is also the team chef.
"I have a flat top griddle that we use to cook bacon on. We can knock a lot of pounds of bacon out on that thing. We call it the baconator," joked Jeff.
The tools, the cooking equiptment, the cars themselves; all loaded and unloaded every race.
"When Barnum and Baileys is out of business this is going to be the last traveling circus because we do 36 races a year, you unload, you do your event, you reload. Everyone knows exactly what they do, and if everyone does the same job week in and week out, it goes smooth."
Chef, driver, and keeper of all the things. These are all some of the many behind the scenes jobs that combine to make a team worthy of a spot in the playoffs.
"“I think this is the best team we’ve assembled at Petty’s for the No. 43. Now we are a single car team, and it’s all hands on deck."