Rarely a dull moment for NASCAR pit reporter

DARLINGTON — NASCAR pit stops can be complete chaos.

Shadowing ESPN pit reporter Mike Massaro during Friday night’s Royal Purple 200 at Darlington Raceway, I saw that chaos firsthand.

Andy Hall, a member of ESPN’s media relations department, asked about a month ago if I would be interested in following Massaro. Having always wondered what it was like to spend time on pit road, I immediately said yes.

Two years ago, I saw the other end of the production by sitting in the production truck during a broadcast, which was a great experience.

During the week, I talked with Massaro, who briefed me on what to expect and the work he puts into preparing for a broadcast.

“It’s all about reacting once the ball is in the air,” Massaro said, using a baseball analogy. “You got be ready for anything.”

Massaro, a former college baseball player at Emerson and avid Boston Red Sox fan, has been with ESPN since 2001. Before that, he worked as a reporter for Motor Racing Network.

His first race assignment for ESPN was to cover the Daytona 500, the race in which Dale Earnhardt died.

Massaro also worked on ESPN’s “RPM Tonight” and became a pit reporter in 2006 when the network got back rights to NASCAR. In addition to his pit reporting duties, he also shares anchoring duties on “NASCAR Now.”

Massaro has won the Russ Catlin Motorsports Journalism Award, which represents excellence in journalism covering motorsports, on two occasions. So he knows his craft and is a good one to follow during a race.

So I meet up with Massaro about 90 minutes before Friday’s broadcast begins. It’s already been a long day for him as he arrived at the track early to help out with the network’s Nationwide qualifying broadcast.

He takes me over to get a headset and scanner, which I use to monitor the race broadcast and what is being said to him from the producers during the race.

Then it’s back to a trailer in the Sprint Cup garage area where Massaro and the other pit reporters — Dave Byrnes and Vince Welch — gather. The three reporters put on their headsets as they go through a mock run of the network’s pre-race show with members of the TV broadcast that night.

Massaro then looks at his notes, which have the drivers he will be covering. Each pit reporter is assigned five drivers for the race. His drivers include Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne and Ricky Stenhouse.

Massaro’s note sheet, which is stapled to a manila envelope that contains other information, is broken down into columns. He has things written for each of his drivers which he learned from talking with crew chiefs during the week and that day. He leaves plenty of space in the columns to add more during the broadcast.

It’s on to the pits where Massaro is followed by a three-member camera crew and spotter Jon McMillan, who will be monitoring driver scanners during the night. Massaro also has a driver scanner, but his producer and other people talking into his ear during the broadcast can make things a bit confusing.

After driver introductions, we head to the No. 20 car where Massaro conducts an interview with defending race winner Denny Hamlin. On the way to the car, he talks with other crew members and drivers to get a better feel for the race.

Some chatter is lighthearted, including Edwards, whose wife had a baby boy this week.

Once the race begins, Massaro camps out near Busch and Kahne’s pits and monitors the race on a Jerk Cam, a small television monitor, but paces up and down pit road throughout the night.

During the race, McMillan constantly is handing him notes as are driver public relations people. All the information helps Massaro paint a better picture and give the audience insight on what is happening at a particular moment.

Massaro also talks with crew members and crew chiefs throughout the night and pitches to his producer possible ideas to mention during the telecast.

Not everything Massaro prepares for ends up on the air.

Massaro finds out about a possible tire issue Edwards might be having and is in position for a shot from his pits. But just before they are going to cut to him, Michael Arnett is involved an accident and the focus shifts to that, and Edwards’ problem becomes irrelevant.

With 10 laps to go, it’s evident Busch is going to get his 48th career Nationwide win, so we began the journey to Victory Lane, located at the other end of pit road.

After interviewing Busch, it’s back to the Nationwide garage area, located on the opposite end of the infield, to try and find other drivers to interview to fill the remaining 20 minutes of the telecast.

When we arrive in the garage, a member of the crew spots Stenhouse, who finishes 10th in the race. Once the interview is complete, Massaro gets word from the truck that his night is over.

“I don’t think you are satisfied with your performance, but I thought it went pretty well,” Massaro says. “I will go back this week and look at the broadcast and see how I did. There are sometimes you think you had a good broadcast and really you didn’t, and other times when you think you messed up but once you see it, it wasn’t that bad.

“But you are always looking for ways to improve.”

And with that, the chaos is over. At least until preparation begins next week’s race in Dover.