By Nathan Inman
The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season kicked off in Daytona this past weekend, with the 68th running of the Daytona 500 taking place on Sunday. Among the field of 41 teams was one former Clemson Tiger pursuing a third consecutive Daytona 500 victory.
Landon Walker was an offensive tackle for the Tigers from 2008 until 2011 and was part of the 2010 squad that secured Dabo Swinney’s first ACC championship. Throughout his career, Walker played a total of 3,131 snaps, a record at the time, and now sits fifth on the all-time list of Clemson players. Throughout his life, Walker bled Clemson orange, as his father, Gary, was a former Clemson Tiger and part of the 1981 team that won Clemson its first National Championship.
When Walker graduated from Clemson in 2012, he had his sights set on the National Football League and intended to sign with the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent. However, a failed physical, uncovering arthritis in his knee, brought his plans to a screeching halt. Walker eventually realized his days of playing football were behind him, but still, he refused to confine himself to a typical desk job. That’s when he received a phone call from Hendrick Motorsports.
Hendrick Motorsports is NASCAR’s most successful race team, with 320 race wins and 15 championships. Walker wasn’t being called to drive a race car – he was being asked to join the pit crew.
In a 2023 interview with The Tiger, Walker said that he was unsure of what to expect when he showed up to the team’s campus in Concord, North Carolina.
“I really had kind of a very mild understanding of what it would be and kind of got into it with the right people at the right time,” Walker said.
Walker learned quickly that the training and preparation for pit crew members was not much different than what he had done his whole life while playing football. As he began his tryouts, he was fully prepared for the tests they threw his way.
“They were doing combines, which you do in football, and testing your running skills and your power skills. Really just an overall test to see how athletic you were.”
After Walker completed his tryouts, the team decided they liked what they were seeing and offered him a spot on the pit crew as a fueler. He accepted the offer and joined the team in September 2012, and he has been there ever since. Walker has achieved several feats during his 13 years with Hendrick Motorsports. For many years, though, there was one that seemed to slip away from him time and time again: The Daytona 500.
That changed in 2023, when his driver, William Byron, won that year’s running of The Great American Race. A year later, Byron would win the race once again, becoming just the fifth to win the race in back-to-back years.
“That’s a big win that everybody wants, to put that ring on your finger,” Walker said. “It’s one of the most coveted wins in our sport, kind of our Super Bowl.”
No driver has ever won the race in three consecutive years. Alas, that record still holds after this past weekend, as Byron was unable to defend his crown once more. Still, after over a decade in the sport without a win in the sport’s most coveted race, Walker cherishes the opportunity to have been part of the race-winning team twice over.
As NASCAR revs into high gear and kicks off the 2026 season, Walker hopes to check one last box on his bucket list: becoming a NASCAR champion. There might be nine months until then, but come this November, it’s entirely possible this former Tiger might achieve just that.
