Posted November 09, 2022 | By: Nutrien Ag Solutions

NASCAR Spotter Brett Griffin: Eyes in the Sky and Boots in the Field

NASCAR drivers may get all the glory. But just like a grower depends on their hands in the field, a driver depends on the team around them. And without the eyes in the sky of the team spotter, a NASCAR team would be blind as they tried to coordinate their strategy on the track. So in this episode, we’re back at the Charlotte Motor Speedway with Brett Griffin, NASCAR spotter for Kaulig racing, owner of Spot-On Activations, and host of the podcast, Door, Bumper, Clear. He also hosts “Leading the Field,” Nutrien Ag Solutions’ new video series, and we’re going to talk about what he’s learned from touring growing operations across North America, where the business worlds of sustainable agriculture and NASCAR racing intersect, and how NASCAR spotters help foster the teamwork that it takes to win races.

Episode Transcript

Brett Griffin:

I grew up in textiles. I grew up where we were doing 30,000 yards of cloth a day. I didn't realize the amount of safety and precautions that are taken with food when it pertains to food that we're going to eat.

And then, it probably shouldn't be a surprise to me, but how hard these guys and gals work from sun up to sun down, 10 months a year. It's not the typical farm that I grew up on. These guys have quite the staff around them, quite the topography. Everywhere we went, there was something beautiful about it.

Dusty Weis:

Welcome to The Future. Faster. A sustainable agriculture podcast by Nutrien Ag Solutions with our very own Tom Daniel, director, North America Retail and Grower Sustainable Ag, and Dr. Sally Flis, senior manager, North America Sustainable Ag and Carbon. This is your opportunity to learn about the next horizon in sustainable agriculture for growers, for partners, for the planet. To us, it's not about changing what's always worked, it's about continuing to do the little things that make a big impact.

On this week's episode, we are back at the Charlotte Motor Speedway with Brett Griffin, NASCAR spotter for Kaulig Racing and host of the podcast Door, Bumper, Clear. He also hosts Leading the Field, Nutrien Ag Solutions' new video series. We're going to talk about what he's learned from touring growing operations across North America, where the business worlds of sustainable agriculture and NASCAR racing intersect, and how NASCAR spotters help foster the teamwork that it takes to win races.

But if you haven't yet, make sure you're subscribed to this podcast in your favorite app. Also, make sure you follow Nutrien Ag solutions on Facebook and Instagram. I'm Dusty Weis, along with Tom Daniel and Sally Flis. We're joined now by Brett Griffin, host of Leading the Field, Nutrien Ag Solutions' new video series. He's also the owner of SpotOn Activations. He's a NASCAR spotter for Kaulig Racing and the host of the podcast Door, Bumper, Clear. Brett, thank you for joining us on The Future. Faster. Podcast.

Brett Griffin:

Thank you guys for having me. It sounds like I'm busy when you say all that at one time.

Dusty Weis:

I don't know how you made time for us, if I'm being perfectly honest here, but you're a man with a lot on your plate.

Brett Griffin:

Well, you guys called and I came running.

Dusty Weis:

Well, I really appreciate you showing up. I know Tom and Sally and the rest of the folks at Nutrien Ag Solutions do as well, but we've got a lot to talk about. We wanted to start out talking about this new project that you've launched with Nutrien Ag Solutions.

It's out now. A video series in partnership with Nutrien Ag Solutions titled Leading the Field with Brett Griffin. To get us started, can you elaborate a little bit on what the video series is, what you've accomplished with it, and why you decided to partner with Nutrien Ag Solutions?

Brett Griffin:

I'll tell you, man. I was flattered to be asked to be in the position with Leading the Field. To be the guy going around and telling the story of all these amazing farmers and growers throughout this country. What made me qualified to do this is that it just so happens that I love to eat. I love food and I'm also a very curious guy. It just came very instinctively to me to be able to go out to these guys' operations.

I'm going to tell you something. It's operations. It's not the typical farm that I grew up on working in watermelons in Pageland, South Carolina. These guys have quite the staff around them, quite the topography, the acreage. Just a super impressive operation that all these guys have. Man, I got to go out, meet all these awesome growers and farmers, and then hear more about their story and how they got to be there.

A lot of guys and gals were third and fourth generation farmers in their family. I couldn't have felt more honored after having the opportunity to see the last three episodes that we've already launched, how well it turned out, and how beautiful everybody gets to see these farms are out there. Not only US, we also went to Canada.

Tom Daniel:

Brett, we take for granted our farming backgrounds. Because most of us, a lot of us that work for Nutrien Ag Solutions have some touch with the farm. You're from Pageland, South Carolina. You're not completely foreign to farmland either. It's all around you. My question is, it's not foreign to you. Can you tell us about what is a summary of what you learned when you went out to visit these farms? What did you really pick up on?

Brett Griffin:

The two biggest things I probably learned Tom. Number one, again, being a curious consumer, I didn't realize the amount of safety and precautions that are taken with food when it pertains to food that we're going to eat. Obviously, food-grade farming versus farming to feed animals. When I went to the corn farm up in Champaign, Illinois, I was blown away by what they do to keep it safe, so that when you and I get it as a consumer, we don't have to worry about it.

When we were on the cattle farm at Cadiz, Kentucky and I see those guys pushing 15,000 head of cattle through there in a year's time and telling me the story of how they genuinely and literally check on every calf and every cow every single day. Like it's a baby in a crib. I was completely blown away. They don't want them stressed out. They want the cow to be happy. In order for us to have a healthy steak to eat, they've got to keep the cattle healthy. That was probably my biggest takeaway on the food-grade side.

And then, it probably shouldn't be a surprise to me, but how hard these guys and gals work from sun up to sun down, 10 months a year. It seems like pretty much everywhere we went from March to November, they don't stop for anything. It doesn't matter what's going on in the world, who's getting married, what sporting event is in town. They're there to harvest their crop. Obviously, plant their crop, grow their crop, but that's what their life literally is all about 24/7, 10 months out of the year.

Sally Flis:

With the size and scope that we have as Nutrien Ag Solutions, it looks like you covered a pretty wide diversity of crops and geographies in the Leading the Field work that's going on. And so, how is it different interacting with some of the smaller acreage-wise growers when you're in California, say, for some of the specialty crops versus that large beef producer in Kentucky?

Brett Griffin:

When you look at the scale of it, I think the apricot farm was 800 acres or something like that, which doesn't sound crazy, but it's an orchard. It's full of a bunch of trees. And then, when I walked into his packing factory, and I saw those apricots going out to Trader Joe's and all these places throughout the country ... And I said, "How many of these things are you packing a day?" He said, "Well, right now, we're doing four million a day."

I grew up in textiles. I grew up where we were doing 30,000 yards of cloth a day. And so, my mind was spinning. I'm looking at all these apricots and I'm looking at 40, 50 folks in there that are making the magic happen to get it out to consumers like us. I was blown away that that amount of acreage could produce that many apricots. They had three or four different apricots they were picking during that part of the season.

And then, you go to some of the farms ... We were just on a 25,000-acre cotton farm. I had no idea that there were six million cotton farm acres available anywhere in the world. Not to mention just in the state of Texas. The state of Texas produces 75% of all the cotton for the United States. To be standing there and to be this little person in the grand scheme of things, of everything that goes on in the world to put clothes on our back, put food on our table. To keep the livestock alive that ultimately ends up on our table. It's very rewarding and humbling to see how hard these men and women work to be able to provide us food.

Dusty Weis:

What I really like about it is you got to travel all over North America. You got all the way out West to California. You got all the way down south to Texas. You got all the way up north to Alberta, Canada, and all over the upper Midwest as well. Can you take us through some of the sites that you got to see and list off some of the takeaways that you had? Starting in maybe Champaign, Illinois?

Brett Griffin:

Champaign, Illinois. The number one takeaway from there for me was the color of the soil. I've been around this country. I've been fortunate. I think I've visited 48 of 50 states that are out there. I was just blown away by the color. You would drive 20 miles and it would change colors. They were very proud of the soil that they have there and the corn that they're able to grow in that particular part of the country.

But when you look at Canada, I had never seen canola grow in my life. When we got there and we stepped off the plane and we drove 30 minutes outside of Calgary, it's gorgeous. It's this yellow sea of gorgeousness. I had on boots. Thank goodness. I was not aware of how wet it would be in the canola. And so, the director said, "Hey. We're going to shoot you in the middle of this canola." I was like, "Man, this is going to be a really cool shot. I'm going to get walk out in the middle of all this pretty yellow canola."

I take the first step and it's like I stepped into a swimming pool, and 7,000 mosquitoes came up from the ground. Growing up in South Carolina, being a big hunter, I'm obviously used to being around mosquitoes. I've never seen that many mosquitoes in my life. I've got in a little earpiece and the director's like, "Hey. Brett, stop for a minute." I'm like, "No. I can't stop." A, I'm wading in water out here. B, there's a million mosquitoes chasing me. And if I stop, I think they're going to pick me up and carry me off.

But everywhere we went, Dusty, throughout the country in its own respect there was something beautiful about it. Even Lubbock, we were just in to see a cotton that we saw. I think the biggest thing is people literally were excited to see us. They were excited to showcase their farms and their operations. You could see it in their eyes how proud they were.

Dusty Weis:

Speaking of getting your feet wet, I understand you got to get your feet out into the cranberry bogs in Central Wisconsin as well. That's maybe a type of agriculture that a lot of folks aren't familiar with. What did you learn out there?

Brett Griffin:

What I learned is there's millions of cranberries in one little square inch. It is insane how many of those things grow down in those bogs. We weren't there when they were flooded. I begged Nicole to send me back there when they were flooded, so I could get out there in the middle of it and see what it's like to harvest those things. But again, just a super gorgeous part of America.

I'm a big cranberry eater. I had no idea how those things came about. Dried cranberries. To be on a farm where they're growing exclusively for Ocean Spray, again, an eye-opening experience and super nice people. We were dealing with two generations of folks there. She gave me cranberry cookies and I ate all of them. Nobody else got any. It was definitely fun.

Sally Flis:

We always get this question in the field, Tom. "What's the one thing?" And so, we often ask the same question of our guests on the podcast of ... What is the one thing that you would see as the misconstrued assumption about agriculture in North America after being involved in these Leading the Field videos?

Brett Griffin:

I think what's misconstrued is, man, these guys are optimistic people. Their livelihoods depend on relationships they have with supplier partners. They depend on their labor workforce. More importantly than any of that, they depend on really good weather. When they don't get good weather, it creates a lot of stress in their lives, for their families, and their employees and even their existence.

When they get good weather, they're celebrating. We were just at the cotton farm out there with Jake and his dad, Bill. They were having a really tough year. The drought in Texas was kicking their tail. I've never seen a guy getting his tail kicked that smiled more than Bill did. He was just a super optimistic guy and happy as he could be to still be farming.

Just the pride that these guys carry is something that I can't describe. You're going to be able to see it watching Leading the Field, how excited these people get talking about farming, their operation, the crop they're growing. That's really the only way to explain it.

Dusty Weis:

That's actually a great point to bring up here. How do people find Leading the Field? That's on the Nutrien Ag Solutions' YouTube page? Where can they go?

Brett Griffin:

They can go to Farm Journal, find Leading the Field. They've got their own YouTube page there. Obviously, nutrienagsolutions.com also has Leading the Field. Three episodes are out right now, and we've got four more dropping really soon.

Dusty Weis:

Can't wait to see those.

Tom Daniel:

Brett, I've been a part of farming my whole life. I'm 63 years old. I grew up on the farm. Still farm today. I think sometimes people view farmers as some type of commercial growers, and all they're concerned about is how much they can grow on an acre.

But I know from my experience, farming is about protecting the resources, watching after the ground, and really legacy. How can I make it better for the next generation? I'm just wondering. All these different growers. Did you find that as a common theme through most of them?

Brett Griffin:

I really did. Niki Wente out at Wente Vineyards is probably the best example I can give you. We rolled up to her vineyard and there is a line of absolutely gorgeous olive trees. Next to the olive trees are her grapevines. As we started talking about various things, I literally asked the question, "It seems like the grape vines are dying the closer they get to these olive trees?"

She said, "These olive trees were there hundreds of years before my grape vines were. They have the right to be here more so than necessarily even I do." But as she started to talk about, to your point, the soil and taking care of the grounds that she's working on and farming on ... Nothing goes to waste out there.

They are that efficient in terms of sustainability and not having anything that's not utilized even down to the way that they water the vines. I definitely saw a big sense of pride. Because if the farmers don't have the soil taken care of, what is their crop going to be like for the next generation?

There's not going to be anybody to utilize bad soil. We were just on the cotton farm, again. They were rotating cotton to corn to take care of everything and be able to manage those efficiencies and obviously the yield. But at the end of the day, they realize without the soil there is no farm.

Dusty Weis:

Well, you bring up a great point too. Because again, getting to travel all over North America and see these different practices taking place on different farms. I would imagine you have a new appreciation for how different and how field and farm-specific agronomic and sustainable practice recommendations have to be.

Brett Griffin:

The biggest difference is I think everybody defined it differently. Depending upon what they were growing and what they were doing, and what they were trying to protect and take care of. But at the end of the day, they all honor it. They all certainly understand the importance of it.

I think my biggest takeaway ... Sustainability has become the hottest word in corporate America in terms of my endeavors right now. I didn't start hearing it until recently. It's very obvious to me sustainability has been an important part of these growers' lives for their entire life. It's just the rest of us are just now hearing about it.

Sally Flis:

You've talked a lot about the growers and what you learn from the growers as you're out there. We work with our crop consultants in the field as we try and get these sustainable practices, whole-acre solutions out there. What did you observe as the crop consultants and the growers were interacting in your times on the farm?

Brett Griffin:

The biggest thing I took away from that was the word trust. These growers know that these crop consultants know what's best for their particular crop and their product. I'll take it back to, again, cotton's fresh on the top of mind. The farmer literally said, "We are producing better cotton, because we are getting better Dyna-Gro seed."

He is relying solely on his crop consultant to know what he needs if they start experiencing insects. To know what he needs if they start experiencing different challenges. It was comforting. You could see comfort and trust built into their dialogue. They cut up like they're family members. But at the end of the day, you realize that the only way for the crop consultant to succeed is if the grower succeeds.

Dusty Weis:

Well, Brett, we are here in Charlotte for a reason. We are all dying to learn about the other facets of your career that we talked about. Particularly, your career as a NASCAR spotter and everything that entails. But first, we've got to step away for a quick break. And then, we're going to be back with more from Brett Griffin here on The Future. Faster.

This is the Future. Faster. A sustainable agriculture podcast by Nutrien Ag Solutions. I'm Dusty Weis, along with Tom Daniel and Sally Flis. We're here in Charlotte with Brett Griffin, host of Nutrien Ag Solutions' new video series Leading the Field. Also, a NASCAR spotter, entrepreneur, and podcast host.

Brett, as we mentioned in the intro, you've got a few irons in the fire. Some business endeavors that you've got. But the one that started them all is your job as a NASCAR spotter. Now, for anyone who isn't familiar with the sport, can you elaborate for us on what a NASCAR spotter does?

Brett Griffin:

We as spotters stand up typically at the highest point of the race track with the best vantage point. We can see the entire race track, and we've got two things in mind. Number one, keep our drivers safe, which means keep them out of wrecks. Keep them out of trouble. Number two, help him finish as high as he can in the running order.

It's, "How do we go faster? How do we pass cars? How do we navigate pit road? How do we go about the race in general?" If you're a football fan, it's like we're the offensive coordinator. We've got a two-way headset where we're talking directly to the driver. We're essentially coaching them throughout the two to four-hour race, depending upon what day it is.

Dusty Weis:

Kind of the eye in the sky. Just keeping an eye on general strategy and making sure that everything goes smoothly down on the track by using what you see from up there.

Brett Griffin:

Yep. Absolutely. We are definitely the eyes in the sky. The way these cars are built these days, for safety reasons, and those are good reasons by the way ... These guys don't have the peripheral vision they used to have. They don't have the ability to turn their heads as much as they used to, due to the HANS device that they're wearing. The head and neck restraint system. We essentially are their mirrors. We're the eye in the sky, just like you said, to try to help them get to the front.

Dusty Weis:

Now, that's not a job that a lot of people have held. It's certainly not on my resume, but I know you've told the story before about how you wound up in that career. You've told that on other platforms, but it's too good not to share again. How does one become a NASCAR spotter?

Brett Griffin:

That's the thing, man. There's only 40 of us in the world. When I broke into the sport in 1999, I was on the marketing side of the business. Working for a CITGO Petroleum Band-Aid brand, doing a lot of their marketing and PR efforts. Long story short, we had a spotter that wasn't able to show up on race day. Back then, we didn't travel with 30 people per team like we do now.

We had eight to ten guys. And if you worked on the race car, you also were on the pit crew. I was standing behind the wall. Obviously, doing PR for the Wood Brothers. Eddie Wood looked at me, I'll never forget it, and he said, "You're spotting today." I was like, "I'm not spotting today." We're in the Cup Series level. I grew up around dirt track racing in South Carolina. I grew up going to NASCAR races as a fan.

Obviously, I've been working in the sport at this point for two years, but by no means am I qualified to be handed a headset and do a race. But we were allowed in New Hampshire. I think I went and threw up behind a concession stand because I was so nervous. I'll never forget. We finished 16th that day and the driver, Elliott Sadler, he said, "Man, you did a great job." I'm like, "You're just being nice." There wasn't anybody else to do it. I had to do it. Right?

Over the winter, he and I worked out a deal for me to come spot for him. The second race I ever spotted in my life was a Daytona 500. When you look at the spotters in general and how they got there, my career path is not one that's typical. Most guys grew up either racing themselves, and then transitioning into spotting as their racing career went away, or they grew up spotting at a short track, say, in Radford, Virginia. New River Valley. And then, they moved to Charlotte and they started in the Truck Series, and the Xfinity Series, and ended up in the Cup Series. I started in the Cup Series. My second race ever was at Daytona 500.

Sally Flis:

Tom, that sounds so much like what's going to happen on a farm family operation. Where it's just, "Who's the person that we can pull to do this job?" Because the work's got to get done that day.

Tom Daniel:

Exactly.

Sally Flis:

I'm sure you saw that as you talked with growers in the field and our crop consultants in the field too. It's just, "Job's got to be done today. Who's going to do it?" Kind of thing.

Brett Griffin:

Next man up. Right?

Dusty Weis:

Exactly that. But also, when you talk about being the second set of eyes and ears for a driver, we play a similar role with how we support our grower customers with agronomic support. How critical would you say it is for you to have a trusted relationship with the driver when that green flag drops?

Brett Griffin:

Look, man, when we're at a restrictor plate races, Superspeedway races, we're a 200 mile per hour game of chess. We're inches apart. If I tell my guy to get up, clear high, move ... If he doesn't move when I say move, he's going to get wrecked. If he hesitates and then moves up, he's going to get wrecked. Or if he hesitates and doesn't move up at all, they're going to pass him. The trust is key.

Having worked with Elliott Sadler, Jeff Burton, and Clint Bowyer for the majority of my 20-plus year career, the longer you're with them, the more things you tell them that come to be. Because if you're telling them something they can already see and they already know, you're not any good to them. You've got to be able to tell them what's about to happen. Or things that they can do to make what's about to happen better for them. As that happens over time, and you start telling those guys things, they start moving on instinct.

Elliott and I won a lot of races together at Superspeedways and plate tracks. You don't have that without the spotter-driver trust. Clint and I had a lot of success as well. It just comes down to ... Like we were talking about earlier. Trust. It's a big deal in our sport in terms of the communication that we're giving the driver. And then, on the other side of that, we actually wear four radios.

We have one radio, we're talking to the driver. We have a second radio, where we're talking to the crew chief. His job is to make the car go faster. We have a third radio, where we're listening to NASCAR. NASCAR tells us when the caution is out, when we're going green, who has a penalty. They're running the procedure of the actual race. They do that through us. They don't have any other way to tell the driver different communications. They will radio on their channel, tell the spotter of 31 he needs to do this. Obviously, then my job is to inform the driver.

And then, our fourth radio is a lot like a pilot in an airplane. We listen to ourselves, so that we know our audio is clear, we know our cords are working, we know our transmissions are working. Because if we start having problems on the radio, and it happens it seems like once a month ... There's a lot of guys down there on our channel. All of those two-way radios can communicate outwards. If we hear a problem, we have to immediately be able to eliminate that we're the problem. That's why we wear so many radios. We've got a lot going on, so to speak, throughout that four-hour process.

Tom Daniel:

Brett, at Superspeedway tracks like Daytona, Talladega, you're telling the drivers that are going 180, and you said up to 200 miles per hour, when there are just inches of space to go up and down on that track. In that moment, you have their lives in your hands. What kind of trust relationship do you have with that driver? How long does it take for that driver to give you that amount of trust?

Brett Griffin:

I'll tell you, Tom, the best situation I could have been in when I started spotting is Elliott and I had known each other for two years. We'd spent a lot of time together away from the track at sponsorship dinners, at sponsor appearances. He and I had a personal relationship. When I went to work for him spotting, it was really easy. In the sense of we already knew each other. We were already friends.

And so, he and I had a deal where he had a motor home. He would sleep in the back in the master bedroom. I'd pull out the couch every night. We flew together every single Thursday night to the race track, every Sunday night home. A lot of briefing, a lot of debriefing, and a lot of investment. That's probably the biggest difference I've had throughout the majority of my career. The guys that I've worked with were really, really good friends of mine. I'm really close to them.

It wasn't just a race car driver out there flipping. It was one of my best friends. Those are really weird situations to be in. Not only did I have a job to do, in my mind, I also had a personal responsibility to them, to their families, to their mother and fathers, to get them home safely. The last thing a spotter wants to do is cause a wreck. Have I caused wrecks in my career? Absolutely. Did I sleep the next three days? Absolutely not.

Because we're different than say football. If Tom Brady throws an interception, he waits four or five minutes, he gets the ball back. If I cause a crash, my car is done for the day with potential more problems other than just the actual crash. You finish last. You don't get to come back out of the garage to finish your day. It's a huge amount of responsibility. Believe it or not, when you're working up to the start of the race, you do feel some of those nerves. But once you say, "Green flag," and you're in the moment racing, you forget about all that. It's literally just about performing.

Tom Daniel:

When you talk about that relationship, it takes time to build that relationship. I think very similarly to the way our crop consultants work with a grower. Those relationships are very personal, because in almost every case, our crop consultant grew up in the area he came from. Those are the people he grew up with, he goes to church with, his kids go to school with.

Every decision that agronomist makes or advises that grower to do can impact the economic sustainability of that grower. Whether or not he's going to make a living that year or not. It's no different from making the decision that one wrong move could flip a car, but one wrong recommendation could limit a guy's ability to make a living for his family.

Brett Griffin:

It is. The crop consultant's reputation is on the line every time he or she makes a recommendation. No differently than every time I tell a guy to go high or go low. If I tell a guy to go high and something bad happens, the next time I tell him to go high, he's going to be a little hesitant. Same thing with the growers. They're buying decisions that pertains to you guys consulting with him.

Sally Flis:

Well, you bring it back to those whole-acre sustainability solution recommendations. We're asking growers in these sustainable solutions to do something different than what they've always done. There's got to be that trust and confidence, because if you make that wrong recommendation ... We've talked about this before, Tom.

If you ask a grower to do a new practice, cover crops, no-till, change nitrogen management, and it doesn't work? They're not going to talk to you the next time, and we're not going to make that progress together and get to the sustainable outcomes that we need to see. It's a big deal.

Brett Griffin:

I saw firsthand that crop consultants are more about partnerships than they are about pushing products. They want to tell the grower something that they know is going to work. They're not trusting a lot of third-parties to do their R&D. You guys are doing it yourselves, so that when you roll it out there is that trust factor there. I heard it firsthand between the crop consultant and the grower talking to each other on these farms.

Dusty Weis:

In that vein of building trust, you've spotted for some really accomplished and popular drivers in the sport. Elliott Sadler, Jeff Burton, Clinton Bowyer and all that. But I would imagine that when it comes to building trust with the driver, it's not a one-size-fits-all solution either. What about those drivers and what about the way that you work with them enabled you to build that level of trust with three very different people?

Brett Griffin:

I think it's just personalities. When I went to work for Clint Bowyer, he and I were already going to Harley-Davidson Bike Week down in Myrtle Beach together. We were going on skiing vacations together. Again, there was already that personal relationship. When I went to work for Jeff Burton, which was after Elliott Sadler, I knew Jeff. I'd known him for ... I don't know… 10, 12 years. But we didn't have a close personal relationship.

I'll never forget. His motor home driver came up to me after a few weeks and he's like, "Jeff paid you a really big compliment today." Look, drivers don't ever tell spotters how great they do. Unless it's on TV and it's a PR stunt. But his motor home driver came up and he was like, "Jeff said he's never had a spotter hold him accountable like you do on the race track. When he makes a mistake, you'll tell him and you'll ask that he not make that mistake again. Or that he not make that mental block mess up the rest of his race."

I've always been ... This is thanks to just my life in general. I've always been a guy to tell you like it is. If you don't want to hear what I think, then don't hire me to give my opinion. We're in that position now with Justin Haley. He's new to the Cup Series in terms of being full-time. I was brought in because of my experience. I didn't know Justin that well. He and I have got to be friends. We hang out a lot together away from the race track now.

That's what it takes to really work well, because you cannot be oil and water with your spotter and driver. It will not work. There's too much on the line. The spotter is the guy that is helping guide you through accidents and helping guide you on pit road when a car may be on fire. There's all sorts of variables that are always out there. Some are dangerous. Some are not. We're selfish people when the race starts. We want to win. We're not like a typical sport.

There's not one winner, one loser. There's one winner and 39 losers. It's hard to swallow that, but spotters can help in certain situations achieve better results. When we get to Pocono, Pennsylvania and the week starts over and we settle in 12th. There's not a lot I can do to help my guy. But if we're at Bristol, Martinsville, Talladega, Daytona, a lot of those places where you run close together, we make a huge difference.

Dusty Weis:

Speaking of partnerships, Nutrien Ag Solutions has been a sponsor in NASCAR ever since 2019. You've been leading the integration and management of that partnership ever since. At the time, what was your rationale for why NASCAR would align and resonate so much with the Nutrien Ag Solutions customer base?

Brett Griffin:

I think there are two things that stick out in my mind. Maybe even three when we started the partnership with NASCAR. Number one, there's a lot of growers and farmers out there that love our sport, because we're in rural America. We started in the South. We've raced all over this country now. There's just a lot of growers who love the sport of NASCAR. We also get to visit a lot of really awesome markets that are close to where you guys have big farming operations. Your customers have big farming operations.

Obviously, we're here in Charlotte now. There's a lot of farmers in the Carolinas as we go to Texas. We used to race in Iowa. Next year, we're racing in Chicago. Obviously, Illinois is a great state for farmers. And then, at the end of the day, where we've had the most success is the amount of engagement that we've had bringing our customers and Nutrien Ag Solutions' customers to the race track. Because our sport does a better job than any other sport.

We don't just stick a billboard out in center field like you're at Cubs Field and hope somebody sees it on TV. We take these guys and gals into the locker room and we take them onto pit road. They get to sit on the pit box during the race. They get to meet the driver literally as he's climbing into the car. Get their picture made with him.

You're not going to do that in football. You're not going to do that anywhere else. I think the NASCAR sport culture in general, the way we treat fans is like nothing else out there. I've been fortunate to work in a lot of different entertainment venues. I'm telling you. NASCAR is number one with fan experience. Nobody does it better than we do.

Sally Flis:

In the last four years, how has that landscape changed? We've been through a lot in the last four years with everything. How has providing that experience, getting growers involved, getting crop consultants involved, changed as all of the things we've been through in the last four years have changed?

Brett Griffin:

It's changed a lot. I say that because Elliott Sadler and Ross Chastain were our first two drivers. We had both those guys driving our car the first year, and Elliott was retiring. The last NASCAR race Elliott Saddler will ever run was in a Nutrien Ag Solutions paint scheme in Las Vegas. Obviously, Ross Chastain. A big farmer out of Florida. A big watermelon farmer.

When we looked at the program back then, we aligned the program with guys that we knew could tell the Nutrien Ag Solutions farmer and farming story. That was very critical as we moved in even to the Burton era with Jeb and his dad, Ward. However, when the program came back this January, it was decided as a group, "Let's focus on winning." And so, we went and got a California driver, A.J. Allmendinger. We're focused on winning and I could tell you. If you want to get people excited about coming to the race? Have them come to the race with a chance to win. I see your eyes lighting up, Dusty. When you talk about winning, that's what we all want to do. Whether we're farming or we're racing or we're being a crop consultant or we're being a spotter. We want to win.

I think that's been the biggest gain that we've got going into even next year. We're around a winning program. We're around a winning driver. We know when we show up on television and we show up with people at the race track, we've got a chance to win.

Sally Flis:

With the sponsorship, we want to reach the growers and the crop consultants. But with Leading the Field, part of what we want to do is reach the people who are consuming the products we're helping growers produce. How has that audience in NASCAR changed? Who do you feel like we're reaching in that consuming public versus that connection we have with growers in the experience we're providing?

Brett Griffin:

NASCAR as an industry has done a really good job of chasing a new fan, and that obviously are fans of different time zones. It's fans from different demographics. But at the end of the day, our core fan base is still the hard-working blue collar and gray collar American. It's not the white collar American. I don't care how bad they want it to be. I don't care how bad they want everybody in the city of Los Angeles to love NASCAR. It ain't going to happen.

Our fan base is still built around that work ethic. With Leading the Field, my social media in the last few days has been nothing but positive in terms of, "Thank you for doing this. Thank you for telling the story of these farmers. Thank you for telling us why it's important that we understand that's not just a piece of beef laying on the counter in a grocery store." That was blood, sweat, and tears from a family that did everything by all means possible to give you a safe steak to eat at the end of the night. Our NASCAR fans are curious, down-home, good old people just like farmers.

Dusty Weis:

You can't say it enough. That food does not come from the grocery store. It comes from the grower, it comes from the farmer, it comes from the person raising that beef. But you mentioned before that your driver, A.J. Allmendinger, he doesn't have that agricultural background. At least, he didn't when he started driving for Nutrien Ag Solutions.

As he has been now driving the 16 car in that Nutrien Ag Solutions' paint scheme, and as he's been getting that exposure to the growers that come out to the activations, and all the other opportunities that he has to learn about farm culture ... How has that changed him would you say?

Brett Griffin:

I'll tell you what. I can say this with confidence. I think he has a much bigger appreciation than he probably had six, eight months ago. His wife, she came from somewhat of an agriculture background. She said she'll come on Leading the Field anytime we want. I think he's been very open to becoming smarter as it pertains to agriculture. Look, we don't hire and sponsor A.J. Allmendinger for him to be an agriculture expert. We hire him to win races. Thank God he's good at it.

Tom Daniel:

Brett, you've worked with multiple different sponsors and people that have created a brand identity using NASCAR as that key. Why should any brand in your mind still consider NASCAR as their build-the-brand platform?

Brett Griffin:

Tom, that's a great question. I'll answer it with the first thing, which is our season is longer than any other season in sports.

Dusty Weis:

It is.

Brett Griffin:

We start in, realistically, January with preseason testing. We do not finish until just before Thanksgiving. We have 10-plus months out there that we're able to take brands and share those brands nationally. Not locally. Not regionally. Nationally throughout those times. Obviously, we've got great broadcast partners with Fox and with NBC. That's our two biggest guys right now.

In terms of folks who are broadcasting races, we've got content every single day of every single week. We don't just play on Sundays like the NFL. We've got obviously a social media reach and we've got personalities. We've got guys that you can take into the marketplace to have dinner with your farmers. I was just on the phone with an Offerpad client of mine who, they're in the business of selling real estate throughout the country. They want to align their brand with top-notch brands.

There's no other sport in America where you can sign up and be around this many Fortune 500 companies. At the end of the day, this is what I get back to at all the times, it's about our fans. We have the best fans in sports. They're brand loyal. You guys are sharing your story. Obviously, taking care of your employees and your farmers is top of mind, but you have a lot of consumers right now that know a lot more about farming. And it's because you guys are here.

I can't speak for myself in saying this, but it's been truly humbling to see what all goes into the agriculture side. Again, I grew up farming watermelons. I knew about hoeing a watermelon, driving a tractor, and loading them on a trailer and going to sell them. I had no idea the science and the people that are involved to take something that sounds so small, the word, "Watermelon," and for it to be so important across all the platforms. Our sport can tell that story better than any other.

Dusty Weis:

Well, Brett, this has been a really incredible story that you've shared with us so far here. We wanted to try one last thing before we called it a podcast episode here. We wanted to try a little bit of word association. Kind of like a lightning round here. I'm just going to pitch you a word or a phrase, and I just want you to throw back at me the first thought or phrase that pops into your head.

Brett Griffin:

I failed a lot of tests growing up. Am I getting graded on this thing?

Dusty Weis:

It's not the ink blots. It's not the ink blots. All right?

Brett Griffin:

Okay. All right.

Dusty Weis:

We just want to see what pops into your head here. Going from the top here on the word association. The first one I want to throw at you is focus.

Brett Griffin:

That's a tough one. To me, man, focus is, "Don't screw up." Because if you're not focused, you're going to screw up. I tell my little guy all the time. He is 10-years-old and plays a lot of baseball. We'll watch videos of people in slow motion, and you can see the focus in their eyes on television. I'm like, "Man, that guy is focused." I think it's the fear of screwing up.

Dusty Weis:

Or conversely, you can see when they lose that focus.

Brett Griffin:

Very true.

Dusty Weis:

What about teamwork?

Brett Griffin:

Teamwork makes the dream work.

Dusty Weis:

How about determination?

Brett Griffin:

Willing to fight.

Dusty Weis:

Nutrien Ag Solutions.

Brett Griffin:

Amazing company that feeds the world.

Dusty Weis:

Leading the Field.

Brett Griffin:

Exactly what it means. Never settle for second. Second is the first loser in our world.

Dusty Weis:

All right. Here's one we wanted to throw at you.

Brett Griffin:

Okay.

Dusty Weis:

Elliott Sadler?

Brett Griffin:

Best friend.

Dusty Weis:

There you go. A.J. Allmendinger?

Brett Griffin:

True competitor. He is not going to be happy unless he wins.

Dusty Weis:

Ross Chastain.

Brett Griffin:

He's talented.

Dusty Weis:

Twitter.

Brett Griffin:

My happy place. I love to get on Twitter and stir stuff up.

Dusty Weis:

That's what I've heard. You're going to have a new follower after this is all and done. Kaulig Racing?

Brett Griffin:

A growing family.

Dusty Weis:

Finally, the number 16. Chevy Camaro.

Brett Griffin:

Fast. Or at least, it better be.

Dusty Weis:

Well, there we go.

Tom Daniel:

We hope so.

Brett Griffin:

We hope so. We hope so. It better be.

Tom Daniel:

Beautiful paint scheme. That's what I would've come up with.

Dusty Weis:

Well, Brett, I'll tell you this. You said that there's always new stories coming out of NASCAR. Similar to that, there's always new stories coming out of the world of agriculture. We're really happy that you're the one telling them on Leading the Field. That's Nutrien Ag Solutions' new video series and you are the host of that. Brett Griffin, thank you so much for joining us on this episode of The Future. Faster.

Brett Griffin:

Thank you guys for having me. It's been great.

Dusty Weis:

That is going to conclude this edition of The Future. Faster. The Pursuit of Sustainable Success with Nutrien Ag Solutions. New episodes arrive every other week, so make sure you subscribe in your favorite app and join us again soon. Visit futurefaster.com to learn more.

The Future. Faster. Podcast is brought to you by Nutrien Ag Solutions with executive producer Connor Erwin and editing by Larry Kilgore III. It's produced by Podcamp Media. Brand and podcast production for businesses, podcampmedia.com. For Nutrien Ag Solutions, thanks for listening. I'm Dusty Weis.