"Burnout is real" - NASCAR industry's take on the sport's grueling schedule for people other than the drivers

With the 2023 NASCAR offseason in full swing, personnel who keep the sport ticking over will get much-needed rest as the holiday season starts. With 41 weeks of racing done this year if we count the exhibition-style events and the points-paying events, the sport's crew members certainly deserve some time off the road.

Traveling over the country and putting on a show not only for fans of the sport but also for drivers, sponsors and team owners by enabling them to race, is certainly a slog when it comes to the average crew member.

Whether it is a tire changer enduring the perils of pit road, or an engineer crunching numbers and data behind a screen. Time away from home spent in unfamiliar locations, as well as traveling back and forth around the country, takes a toll on several employees.

In a recent conversation sparked by SiriusXM NASCAR Radio's Pete Pistone, several people from the industry seemed to agree with what Pete had to say.

"Understand many Cup and even NXS teams are having a tough time filling positions internally with burnout factor becoming more of a tangible challenge over the length of the season - one principal believes it’s even reached the level of drivers not wanting to commit to full season."

Insiders from the NASCAR community replied to the tweet and echoed Pistone's thoughts, with many touting the degrading work-life balance as the primary deterrent. Here are some of the best reactions:

"This has been a real thing forever. The team charters and need to get a joint effort to continuously do things for all the families who endure the grind of a full season!"

"My first year of cup racing I worked over 5 months (850 hours) of over time and made less than $65k."

"I echo the thoughts of many who have already responded to Pete’s original tweet. Wouldn’t trade what I do. I love it. All of it. However, turning a blind eye to the burnout reality of others is also a disservice to ourselves if we aren’t careful."

"Honestly, it's not the workload that's the problem. The industry is traveling less now than it ever did pre-Covid. These cars are easier to *work* on... and getting easier. It's the money that's paid for it relative to the cost of living. It's becoming less "worth" it."

"While there's a lot of stuff to be said regarding pay and schedules, a lot of it comes down to the rules not making it fun anymore. If you're at the shop there's hardly anything you can do to make a difference to the cars anymore which is like the main reason to work there."

"I said this to someone the other day. It’s become an assembly line job in many ways. No longer attractive. As a racer I’d rather build cool shit than a spec car that I can’t put my personality into. That’s something the sport lacks today. Vehicle personality."

"The issue rising is for how long and intense the season is, there are fewer and fewer people who want to commit when you have guaranteed time off and can see your family and have more home time with equal or better pay working for bigger corporations, dealerships, Amazon, etc."

"Maybe they are not paid enough by the smaller teams to be gone from their families all that time. It’s a good job for a young single guy. I bet the big budget teams don’t have this problem but the ones running on a slim margin going from race to race desperate for sponsors do."

"I hear you, but I don't believe it. The lower level series work just as hard while working their day job. They also drive themselves to each race. They also do it with little or no compensation. They would change places with the cup folks in a heartbeat."

"Burnout is real, however if there's a driver not wanting to commit to a full season there's a big line out the door of many who want that LOL."

While resounding sentiments from the majority of the NASCAR fraternity seem to agree with the original post, it remains to be seen if others have contrasting opinions.

NASCAR Cup Series team's GM counters tough working hours argument with remuneration statistics

Joey Cohen, General Manager at Jimmie Johnson's Legacy Motor Club in the NASCAR Cup Series, begged to differ to the notion of crew members' time not being made worth their while.

Cohen wrote about the remuneration statistics for Legacy MC employees:

"I will jump on this since it is circulating today: LEGACY MC: 10 Days PTO, 17 Days of Holidays (Closed week of Christmas / Closed Olympic summer week 2024), 25% 401k match - 100% vested, Pay for employee and Family members base healthcare plan, Competitive Salaries. Hit my DMs."

Whatever might be the notion inside the NASCAR community regarding working conditions and work-life balance, the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season will be kicking off nonetheless in February next year.