Jeff Gluck

USA TODAY Sports

Our series of weekly NASCAR driver interviews continues with Spencer Gallagher, who drives for GMS Racing in the Camping World Truck Series. Gallagher is currently 12th in the standings.

Q: What is an errand or chore in your daily life people might be surprised to learn you do yourself?

A: I do the laundry. A lot of guys have two-week hampers sitting there and they don’t start washing it until it starts to rot. I sweat a ton, man. I stink. I can’t leave it for that long, dude. If I do that, I have to start throwing away those clothes. So laundry is something I have to stay pretty fastidious about.

Q: If you could do any race over again, which race would you choose?

A: Talladega (last month). I would have loved to win that and thought we could have. I’d love to have another crack at Grant (Enfinger, his teammate who won the race).

I would love to have (Canadian Tire Motorsport Park) back, too. When Cole (Custer) and John Hunter (Nemechek) got to doing what they did (crashing at the finish), we were fixing to be right there. We were going to blow by both of them and win it. That was the plan. The second I saw those two getting near each other, I was like, “Ooh! All I’ve got to do is stay right here and I’ll be OK.” And I got put in the fence coming to the white, so that was fun.

Q: The longest race of the year is 600 miles. How long of a race could you physically handle without a driver change?

A: Man, I don’t know how they do 600. That’s a testament to the athleticism of these Cup guys. Do you know that’s the longest single stint any race car driver does anywhere (on a track)? Think about it. Even the endurance guys do four-hour shifts. The Coke 600 is the longest one time any race car driver is in their car on planet Earth. True story. That’s what I tell people and it blows their minds.

Now that’s on a track though. I can’t take it away from the Baja and Dakar (off-road racing) guys. Those guys are certifiable Captain Insano. They should have their heads examined. Good for ‘em, though!

Q: Let’s say president of NASCAR was an elected position voted on by the drivers, and you decided to run. What would one of your campaign promises be?

A: I’d only need to say one thing and I’d be elected right away: I’d take all of the tapered spacers off of them. No more tapered spacers anywhere. Go find me a driver in the garage that says, “Ooh, tapered spacers? I love ‘em! Gimme more!”

Go on. I’ll wait here. Just find me one person. And when you do, tell them to stop lying.

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Q: At the start of this year, exactly 857 drivers had ever raced in the Camping World Truck Series. Where do you rank among those 857?

A: Gosh. I don’t know where I am now, but I just wake up every day and want to keep advancing forward. I just hope tomorrow I’m one ahead.

Q: What do you think your reputation is, and is that reputation accurate?

A: I think it’s a happy-go-lucky guy who is trying to help the team and build the team. I think that’s a pretty accurate one.

I’m me. I love what I do and I wear that on my sleeve. I don’t see the sense in not showing people you love what you do, man. And I think that helps build a community. I like being me.

You’re a very unique individual, and people in that position sometimes find resistance for being so outside the box. Have you ever encountered a situation like that?

I’ve dealt with it all my life, man. I came to a very simple conclusion long ago: People who have something negative to say about someone who wants to be outspoken, people who want to nay-say those who love what they do? They’re the ones history is never going to remember. Simple as that, man. That doesn’t trouble me.

Q: A famous chef wants you to invest in the new restaurant he’s opening, but he wants you to pick the cuisine. What type of food would your restaurant serve?

A: Probably pizza and sushi, but I’m not sure the combination of those would turn out well. Some culinary dishes are good as fusion. Like Korean and Mexican goes great together, as it turns out. Who knew? Thank you, L.A.!

But others, like pizza and sushi? I can’t see that working out well. I don’t know if I want pizza on my sushi or sushi on my pizza. They really don’t seem terribly compatible.

So I guess I’d have to go with sushi, because I get too fat on pizza.

Q: What is the most daring thing you’ve done outside of racing?

A: I took a one-way flight to London once when I was 17 just to do it.

Did your parents know?

Uh, they did when I landed.

Wow!

I mean, I flew back! I was there for like two days. It was fine. It was London. Honestly, I don’t like England. It rains all the time and you can’t find directions.

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Q: In a move to generate more excitement, NASCAR decides in an upcoming race they’re going to require every driver to have a passenger in the truck. You get to pick the passenger. Who do you choose?

A: I think you should choose your spotter. He’s the least likely person to freak out at any given moment in the race, and he could have his head out the window checking on things for you. He could give the finger to a guy for you if you get cut off.

It would probably take a load off you as a driver, man! That would be great. It’d be a real innovation. We should start that: Side-car NAS-truck racing. Hell yeah! We could make a perch you can bolt to the chassis, and he’s sitting on a little bucket seat facing backward out the window talking to you. That would be funny as hell!

Q: How often do you talk inside the car without hitting the radio button?

A: Oh, all the time. People who get on the mic and start screaming and shouting at the crew, that just brings down morale. I’ve never understood that. I do plenty of that, just without the button on. If you want to dog someone and tell them they’re the dumbest person ever to be born and they were a mistake, that’s fine; just don’t do it over public radio, you know?

Q: Who will win the Sprint Cup in 2021?

A: Chase (Elliott), (Alex) Bowman, Erik (Jones) or Kyle.

Kyle Busch or Kyle Larson?

Yes.

Q: I’ve been asking each driver to give me a question for the next interview. Last week was Bowman, and he said: “I know Spencer really well, so this is perfect. In 2012, he hired me to driver-coach him at a test. He used words like persnickety and cascading to describe the car. What makes him describe the car with such a crazy vocabulary?”

A: I don’t know, man. Those are just the words that come to me. I must have aced a bunch of vocabulary tests when I was a kid. I’ve tried to simplify my feedback about the car since then, though, because I got a bunch of responses like, “Does anybody know what the hell he just said?”

And do you have a question for the next interview? It’s Landon Cassill.

If you could race anything, anywhere, what is it, where is it and why is it Cup cars at Sao Paulo?

Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck