LIMA, N.Y. – NASCAR weekend is underway in Watkins Glen and a few of the pit-crews are staffed with Finger Lakes natives.
Zachary Yager was born and raised in Lima, he now jumps off pit walls and races around race cars as a jackman for RSS Racing. On Friday, he’ll pit for the 88 truck which is driven by Matt Crafton and in the Xfinity race on Saturday, he’ll pit for the #39 car driven by Ryan Seig.
Zachary Yagar: “I grew up in Lima and went to HFL high school.”
Jennifer Lewke, News10NBC: “Were you involved in racing locally at all growing up, how did you get connected to it after graduation?”
Zachary Yager: “No, I was just… my cousin called me up one day and was like, “could you do this?” and I was like, yea I’ll do it and he’s like alright I need you here in 2 weeks. So, I packed up my little 2-door Honda Civic and drove down to Charlotte and I’ve been here ever since.”
Jennifer Lewke: “Walk me through what the training is like and how often you’re practicing in advance of race weekends.”
Zachary Yager: “Usually, it’s 2-3 times a week, kind of just depends on what track we’re going to. We usually try to do practice similar to the track we’re going to. Some tracks like super speedways that don’t really eat tires that bad, you might do 2-4 pit stops the whole day and then there’s some places like smaller tracks like Bristol and Darlington that eat through tires and you might be doing 8-12 pit stops that day.”
Jennifer Lewke: “Where do the road courses fit on that, like where does Watkins fit on that?”
Zachary Yager: “Watkins and a few others they’re definitely the weirder ones because they’re road courses and they are backwards stops so instead of the car coming right to left in pit road, it comes left to right. So, it’s awkward.”
Jennifer Lewke: “The pit crew can like make or break it for a driver really, and so it’s a lot of pressure on you, if you don’t get that jack up in time, the tire change is slow, the driver is slow and things can turn messy real fast.”
Zachary Yager: “Yea, it’s a big part of it but I mean that’s why we do it, right? That’s what we got into it for. We wanted to be important.”
Jennifer Lewke: “Do you look forward to Watkins Glen because it’s the closest track you have to home and what is that experience like for your friends and family?
Zachary Yager: “It’s a lot of fun, definitely one of my favorite places to go mainly because I feel like the atmosphere has never really changed, it sells out every year and no matter what, the fans are great. There’s always a ton of people there and it’s a cool showing and a cool weekend to be a part of.”
The crew chief for the No. 24 Cup car driven by William Byron is also a native of the Finger Lakes region. Rudy Fugle grew up in Livonia and took home victory in Cup series race at Watkins Glen in 2024.
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Local jackman Zachary Yager gears up for NASCAR weekend at Watkins Glen WHEC.com.
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