Not every day does a former offensive lineman trade the trenches for the fast lane. Once known for bulldozing defenders and protecting quarterbacks, this ex-Michigan star has now swapped shoulder pads for a headset. After spending six years on the NFL field, OL Ben Braden walked away from the football field and is now enjoying his new career as a pit crew member.

The former NFL lineman is now mastering the role as the fueling specialist for Marcus Armstrong’s No. 66 Honda. He is now a proud member of Meyer Shank Racing. At 6-foot-7 and 330 pounds, Braden is impossible to miss roaming the IndyCar pit lane.

This unexpected career change came in 2022 after a severe spinal injury forced Ben Braden into an early retirement from football. Before the season began, the Denver Broncos released him. He was last seen in action in 2021 with the Green Bay Packers. Unsure about what direction life would take next, Braden reached out to a connection he had made during his gym training days. Ed Carpenter, the IndyCar veteran and owner of Ed Carpenter Racing, gave Ben his first racing break in 2023.

“It’s so nice that there’s still a competitive edge to all this. The intensity, attention to detail, and focus are all very similar to football, which changed easier,” Ben told Jeff Tomko of Muscle and Fitness.

He had some experience with cars in high school, but the sport remains uncharted territory for him. But he still finds some similarity with his old sport.

“I had no idea at first,” Braden said in his interview to Tomko. “Once they kind of started explaining to me how it works, technique-wise, it all started clicking. It was stuff I remembered from football. One of the things that really translated from the NFL to this was people don’t realize fueling is a lot of footwork.”

“It’s a lot of the same footwork. The fundamentals and mechanics transfer over, so it was really nice to do something different from what I had done, but at the same time felt really natural.”

He doesn’t have back problems anymore, which is a great relief and will benefit his performance at the pit stop. But even with a reduced risk of serious injury, racing remains one of the most dangerous sports in the world.

Ben Braden’s football journey

Ben Braden grew up in Michigan and attended Rockford High School, where he started playing football. All coaches loved Braden’s physique and his technical prowess. The local talent preferred playing for the Michigan Wolverines football team from 2013 to 2017 while in college.

In the beginning years of his college career, Braden focused on honing his skills as an offensive lineman. Just like other linemen joining big teams, Braden did not play as a freshman because of his redshirt year.

After the Wolverines, his path was laid out to start his professional career in the NFL as an OL. Braden announced himself in the 2018 NFL draft, but his name went uncalled. That was not the end of the story for him, as the New York Jets, the holy grail for undrafted agents, offered an opportunity.

The next stop in his career after the Jets was the Green Bay Packers, where he was on the roster. After getting cut from Green Bay’s roster, the Denver Broncos signed him, but even before the season started, the injury plague hit him, and that was it for Ben’s career.