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How a Casual Interest in NASCAR Eventually Led to NFL Superstar Alvin Kamara’s Involvement in Xfinity Series

Published 04/05/2021, 7:00 AM EDT

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USA Today via Reuters

Earlier this year, news broke that NFL star Alvin Kamara had an interest in NASCAR. The New Orleans Saints running back recently collaborated with NASCAR Xfinity Series racer Ryan Vargas as the latter’s sponsor. Their partnership first began ahead of the Daytona International Speedway road course race. Since then, they have been going strong in the 2021 Xfinity Series.

Recently, the running back spoke about what sparked his interest in NASCAR. He said, “For me, it started during quarantine. You’re always flipping the channels. I said: ‘Let me see what’s up with this NASCAR. Let me just watch it and try to understand it’ I realized there’s more to it than driving around this track.

“After I went to a race, I was hooked. It’s like my heart was going to pop out of my chest.”

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He also admitted that he paid a visit to the Homestead-Miami Speedway to watch one of the races, where he happened to meet with president Steve Phelps. In addition to that, he also knew Bubba Wallace back when he was at the University of Tennessee.

So, as soon as he was acquainted with the sport, he was roped in and has never looked back since.

Kamara is excited after joining the NASCAR community

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The NFL star confessed that it would be hard to gauge the experience unless people went for one themselves. He also admitted that it was incredible to see the level of skill that the drivers possess. According to him, it would be foolish to assume that all that the drivers do is race in circles.

via Getty

Kamara acknowledged that there are many components that make up NASCAR. At first, he could not keep up, but now he is steadily learning from the sport and is starting to appreciate it.

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Safe to say, Kamara and his brand, the Big Squeezy, hopes to have a fruitful partnership with Vargas. From there, the sky is the limit for him.

How a Tweet Led to NFL Superstar Alvin Kamara’s Partnership with NASCAR Driver Ryan Vargas

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Written by:

Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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