Brantley Gilbert loves NASCAR but his favorite part of NASCAR might surprise you.
“Some of my favorite parts of racin’ probably shouldn’t be my favorite part,” he told his record label Big Machine. “I do like watching wrecks. I think there’s a few of us out there. It’s fun.”
Collisions don’t always have to result in wrecks. One of his favorite aspects of racing is when cars make contact but don’t actually crash.
“You know, Rubbin’s racin’ and when they get a little bit out of control you don’t want nobody to get hurt. But it never hurts my feelings when they get a little frustrated with each other and want to kind of duke it out in the pits neither. So, it’s all in good fun,” he concluded.
In 2017, Big Machine sponsored the Brickyard 400, which Brantley Gilbert also performed at. The moment was surreal for him, as a longtime NASCAR fan.
“You don’t ever think about things like your name on a race like this,” Gilbert said in a press release. “But it’s pretty cool. You know, to be part of something that means so much to a lot of people that is powerful. It’s an honor.”
He ended up having friends and family calling him about his name being in the title of the race. It had extra special meaning for him as he grew up loving NASCAR.
“My mom’s side of the family’s from Indiana and my (late) grandfather just loved NASCAR and loved the Brickyard and so this one, in my heart, is kind of for him,” he said.
Aside from having a race with his name in it, Brantley Gilbert had a piece in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. His 1936 Ford “Bonnie and Clyde” car that was featured in the “Bottoms Up” music video was previously on display in the museum.
Brantley Gilbert and ‘Not Like Us’
Brantley Gilbert teamed up with NASCAR to release his hit single “Not Like Us” back in 2019. The company used the song in marketing ads and at events. The song gives fans a taste of what it’s like from the driver’s perspective.
“We wrote this out on the road, and it’s got that feel,” Gilbert said in a press release. “It’s funny how everybody wants to be — like the first verse says — a big dog, but when you get right down to it, wanting and being are two different things. When you look at NASCAR, what those drivers do, there isn’t anybody in the world like ’em.”
