In another life, Landon Walker was a 300-pound offensive tackle at Clemson where he was a four-year starter from 2008-2011.
His football career ended in 2012 when issues with his knee led to being cut by the Bengals before his career even got off the ground. But like a lot of former college athletes, Landon transitioned to the competitive world of NASCAR.
The fuel man for William Byron's #24 team, Walker credits Clemson's head football coach for helping him learn some valuable life lessons that shaped his future.
"Dabo Swinney was a very influential man, especially for the young player that I was at Clemson," Walker said.
"The character that he had, it was something I strived to be like, the way he carried himself."
Walker's final season saw Clemson win the 2011 ACC Championship, the first league title for Clemson since 1991. It was also the first 10-win season since 1990 so Walker left the program in a solid place. But even Walker admits he didn't see two national titles in Clemson's future.
"Best is the standard there as you can tell now," Walker said.
"They have the best quarterbacks, the best running backs and it's only growing. And the things that they're doing there is completely mind blowing to me. But no, I wouldn't have saw Swinney being where they're at right now. But I can tell you right now, the momentum that he is carrying there now is something that you're not going to be able to mess with. You don't want to get in the way of a win like that they're carrying."
Walker is a native of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina which in the past was part of NASCAR's schedule. Walker said he didn't really follow the sport as much as you would think because he was focused on football. But now he has returned to his roots in his current job at Hendrick Motorsports.