Al Blades Jr., UM alumni and former NFL player, is bringing passion and dedication to the NASCAR pit

In football direction running we perpetually talk about having clean transitions in and out of breaks now for one former NFL participant clean transitions and brakes have a different meaning in his professional arena Al Blades Jr may look like any other pit crew member working for a NASCAR unit You know you change tires on the side of the road but this is nothing like that stated Al Blades Jr Al has gone from playing football at St Thomas Aquinas High School and the University of Miami to being a rear tire changer for one of the top race teams When Al transferred to Duke for his final year of college football the assistant athletic director introduced him to his pit crew coach at Hendrick Motorsports The people around me at Duke all knew I was into and loved cars he declared They knew I was into building up my own cars they knew I was fascinated with cars So the campaign here no matter how triumphant you are at football they are constantly looking to kind of push you in a direction they think you ll really enjoy Blades Jr was an undrafted athlete with the Jets and was circulated after his first training camp in That s when all of our efforts turned to working in NASCAR His football background was a plus Just like the NFL you come in and watch film of the last practice and we come in and watch film of our last practice Every day you have a coach that s telling you what you need to do better I had such good teammates and good coaches that it was never anything major like Aw man I don t think I could do this or anything like that It was just learning curves and learning how to do it every day This is Al s first full year of working in the pits in the Cup Series Being a pit crew member is physically and mentally demanding to work as a company We like to call the pitstop a play explained Blades Jr Because if I don t do my job it could affect another man s job I see that car coming down I invariably give my gun a good stretch two times and make sure my button is switched I know my air s on my button is working and I time my jump every single time Once I m down and I m in it it s like clockwork Consider this Al had never been to a NASCAR race before he started working in the sport I love hearing the engine roar I love hearing the downshifts and I love hearing the cars come in I love the sound of the brakes and the tires sliding into the box Everything about it man I love cars he mentioned To know that you re in it and you re doing it you can t take it for granted Al worked the pits for driver Katherine Legge in in current times s Brickyard at the Indy She finished th in the -car field Next season Al hopes to work the pits for one of the four main drivers with Hendrick Motorsports