In a recent appearance on the popular Door, Bumper, Clear podcast, Noah Gragson offhandedly referred to Landon Huffman as the ‘resident complainer’ of the CARS Tour, and while that’s a gross exaggeration, his growing content machine is opening doors.
Huffman, 30, will make his return to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for the first time in seven years on July 18 at North Wilkesboro Speedway with Henderson Motorsports with a hodgepodge of supporters.
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But Huffman also wants you to know that 1) He isn’t a constant complainer but 2) that authentic and honest content has allowed him to make a career out of short track racing when that is otherwise hard to do.
He is one of the veteran faces of the CARS Tour and Late Model Stock competition, a winner in the regional tour but also a champion at both Hickory Motor Speedway and Tri-County Motor Speedway — his home tracks.
Huffman chronicles the highs and lows through the Huffman Racing Radio weekly podcast, a YouTube vlog and his social media accounts. In short, the short track life is not always butterflies and rainbows.
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“Sometimes it’s great, sometimes it’s not for great reasons, but regardless, it’s in the limelight,” Huffman said. “So when things go great, it’s awesome and people enjoy it and it’s, ‘oh wow, look how cool this is’ and ‘what a great advocate for the sport Landon is.’
But, and I have always stressed this, my social media is not always candy canes and roses. When things go bad, I’m not going to sugarcoat it. I am honest with how I feel because that’s racing. It has ups and downs.”
Huffman says the content in racing that doesn’t show the hardships or controversies is misleading.
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“And listen, sometimes, I’m wrong and I’m 100 percent wrong some days, but sometimes these are just feelings when I get out of the car,” Huffman said. “I wear my emotions on my sleeve and if I’m pissed off, I’m going to get out of the car and tell you about it.”
Huffman has learned from some of the best about what it means to produce authentic content. He’s formed a friendship in recent months with the Cleetus McFarland and Friends troupe, having provided his Limited Late Model to (LS) George Siciliano, dba Squirrel McNutt as he’s started to pursue an ARCA career.
In addition to that, Huffman has also competed alongside them in the Crown Victoria series at Indianapolis Raceway Park. The primary sponsor for his Truck Series start is the BaldEagle.com brand that ‘Cleetus’ owns.
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While that was a piece of the puzzle, Huffman also needed to scrounge together the rest of the funding:
Chuck Ward, Newport Speedway
Hudson Autoworks
Scott’s Collectables
Athens Towing & Recovery
Southern Custom Electrical
Home Place Brewing
… and then fans through social media crowd sourcing
This is also the best equipment, in his words ‘by far,’ that Huffman has had across what will soon be six Truck Series starts. Of course, back then, he was making starts to just turn laps and get experience in the platform.
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These were not trucks that had won races yet, although Niece Motorsports and Young’s Motorsports has since won races during his hiatus. When Huffman drove those trucks, they just weren’t race winning entries yet.
Henderson Motorsports has recent wins with Parker Kligerman, and when that No. 75 shows up on a part-time basis, crew chief Chris Carrier generally has it ready to contend. This is also a historic team, one that dates back to 1982, and has history with Robert Huffman, Landon’s dad and a NASCAR veteran.
“It is a very, very cool opportunity to work with a family that’s been involved with motorsports and NASCAR for a long period of time,” Huffman said. “There are generations of Hendersons that are involved and they take a lot of pride in the trucks they bring to the racetrack and they don’t have a bunch of employees.
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“Chris Carrier is an old school guy, he actually worked with my dad and was around with my dad from time-to-time when my dad was involved in the truck series, so we’re kind of old acquaintances for lack of a better word. …
“In talking with them, they use to reject the term ‘underdog,’ but I think they’ve come around to it. They expect to be competitive, even if they don’t have the same resources or employees.
“They have experience, knowledge to make a statement, and compete. … So, if I can replicate what Parker does when he gets in that truck, it’ll be a successful weekend.”
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At 30-years-old, Huffman still wants to eventually make it to the national touring level, but has also embraced what it takes to make a successful business out of Late Model Stock racing.
He hasn’t given up on becoming something akin to the next Josh Berry, but the status quo is fairly good, and a Truck Series start at North Wilkesboro could always open additional doors.
“It’s not that I want to necessarily be a short track life, but I am okay with that because I’m able to drive a race car on weekend, support my family and draw a paycheck by working on these cars at Carroll Speedshop,” Huffman said of his CARS Tour team. “There are few race car drivers at this level who can say that.
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“So I consider myself very blessed to have this opportunity. But I’m always holding out hope of racing full-time at a national level. I think every short track driver, young or old, keeps that in the back of their mind.
“But if I end up racing Late Models my whole life, or if I only make a handful of other Truck Series starts, but can make my content and make a living, I am so blessed to be able to compete in the CARS Tour and work on these cars.”
Not too bad for CARS Tour’s resident complainer.
“I should make that into a shirt,” Huffman said with a laugh.
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