Despite Many Challenges This Young Nascar Driver Is Enjoying The Ride

On a recent Saturday at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series lined up for an overtime restart with 2 laps to go. NASCAR Cup series regular Kyle Larson would go on to win a race that he dominated. But further behind in 12^th place one driver was also celebrating.

Chris Hacker isn’t exactly a household name in NASCAR. At least not yet. Like many young drivers, the Noblesville, Indiana native hopes to be racing in NASCAR’s top tier Cup series one day. The 23-year-old has been racing since he was 8 and working his way up the ladder ever since. It’s a climb that comes with many challenges. Chief among them; simply getting noticed.

With his 12^th place finish that Saturday, a career high, Hacker certainly got just that. Up until that day his best finish in the Truck series came earlier in the season at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia when he finished 16^th.

He races part-time for On Point Motorsports, a small team that uses a mix of drivers for its No. 30 Toyota Tundra. During his first season not only does he have the disadvantage of being a rookie, and one with a part-time schedule, but all the tracks he’d raced on to that point were ones he had never been on prior. That all changed at North Wilkesboro when that track, shuttered since 1996, hosted its first NASCAR race in 27 years: the truck series event that preceded Sunday’s All-Star race.

Hacker finally had a chance to race on a track that was just as new to everyone in the field as it was to him. That, he hoped, would help increase his chances of a decent finish, and getting the attention he so desperately needs.

He made a mistake in qualifying and started 32^nd in the 36-truck field. Much of the race saw him struggle going down a lap at one point. During a late caution, Hacker figured it was just going to be another average finish for him. But he got his lap back and found himself in the top 20 when the final caution of the day came out setting up the overtime finish.

“We took the green, went into turn one everything was pretty smooth,” he said. “And then we took the white and I just dove it in there as far as I could. And I didn’t get into anybody, so that’s good.

“I think I passed like four or five cars just going into turn one. And I had somebody right behind me pushing me as hard as they could into turn three, but I just, I locked the brakes down. I held it up against the wall in three and four and, and luckily, we were able to come out with the top 12, so that was pretty awesome.”

While Chris Hacker faces the same sort of challenges other young drivers trying to make it in the sport face, he has a challenge unique to him.

Hacker is the first driver in NASCAR to suffer from a Brachial Plexus injury. While sometimes caused by accidents, his happened at birth. BPI causes nerve damage and in Hacker’s case left him with weakness and limited movement in his left arm. He’s had surgeries and years of occupational and physical therapies but still has limited movement of his left arm.

“Growing up with racing, there wasn’t really too many complications until we got into like, stock cars and late models when I was about 13,” he said. “I was really small back then. My nickname was actually small, so that’s what everybody would always call me.

“Late models is a lot more aggressive, you know, a lot more bump and runs and stuff like that. So there’d be problems like keeping my hands on the wheel and stuff like that.”

He’s learned to adapt and continue his NASCAR journey. Along the way he’s learning to do what he needs to do in order to do what he wants: race in NASCAR, “we were able to overcome it,” he said.

“You know, obviously it’s not the best-case scenario to have brachial plexus injury,” he said. “Me personally, if I were to choose, I would prefer to have it from birth because, you know, if you go say like 10 years, 15 years, 20 years of your whole life, having two normally function in arms and then, you know, right away go into having to deal with nerve damage, it’s going to be a crazy wakeup call and it’s going to be hard to adapt.

“Just being able to live my childhood outside of racing and then my childhood growing up into racing, I’ve been able to like mentally prepare myself and figure out what I need to do in order to adapt to the task at hand.”

With NASCAR’s strict rules, there aren’t really many adaptations that can be made to the race vehicle. And that’s just fine with Hacker.

“Honestly, I don’t really want like a little golden ticket I guess you could say,” he said. “I want to be treated like everybody else. So we just put switch extensions on the switches so I can reach over with my right hand and switch ’em, and we can move the steering column and we can choose where the steering wheel is. And I had my steering wheel set a little bit differently than those other guys. But other than that, I mean, we’re just, we’re just doing what everybody else does.”

Like all other drivers in NASCAR, Hacker had to undergo a timed test to prove he could get out of a racecar as quickly as possible in the event of a fire. And just like all NASCAR drivers Hacker was able to pass that test.

“It was really no problem at all,” he said. “You know, like I said, it helps just having it my whole life. I know where I need to put my arm when I’m getting out, how to make sure it’s not in the way and stuff like that. But yeah, I mean there’s been a little bit of struggles, but nothing that’s really ever like, made me sit down and, and question if I can do this or not.

“I’ve always been able to get over the hurdles.”

Another challenge for the young driver is sponsorship. And that is something all drivers struggle with.

A week after the North Wilkesboro event, NASCAR was at nearby Charlotte Motor Speedway. Two-time NASCAR champion Kyle Busch was asked about what it would take for one of his former drivers at his truck team, Kyle Busch Motorsports, to move up from the NASCAR Xfinity series into the Cup series.

That particular driver, John Hunter Nemechek, is much more well known but despite that Busch said it wasn’t about talent.

“This isn’t to be mean or rude or a bad word,” Busch said of Nemechek, “But he needs six million bucks and he’ll be in a (Joe Gibbs Racing) Cup car next year. That’s all he needs.”

“It’s not a success game anymore…it’s a money game,” he later added. “So if he can find the cash, then there will be a seat for him I’m pretty sure.”

Busch later broke it down even further.

“There’s no question that you have to have funding behind you because these owners anymore – there’s not enough money in the sport that they’re making money that they’re willing to reinvest it into their talent pool, into their driver pool, and put it out there. I think Rick (Hendrick) is probably the only one with (Kyle) Larson. Everybody else is all sponsorship driven.”

Hacker said he agrees with that sediment.

“There is an aspect where talent is a factor, but if you want to make it big, it’s almost been, you know, what I’ve learned a hundred percent money. It kind of sucks, but you know, that’s what the business has come to nowadays.”

Like his other challenges, however, Hacker is working on that hurdle as well. He has sponsorship from one of the most unusual sponsors ever in the sport. Morgan and Morgan, one of the largest law firms in America that the largest one that specializes in injury cases.

“I came in to my first truck race thinking it was going to be my last one too,” Hacker admits. “Luckily, I teamed up with a great agent, his name is Nathan Dale, and he’s the one that actually connected me with Morgan and Morgan. Without Morgan and Morgan, I probably wouldn’t be a race car driver and I probably would’ve never made my Xfinity start out in Richmond earlier this year.”

Morgan and Morgan is now all in on Hacker and his future. Already the firm and Hacker are working on plans for next season. Not only do they help Hacker on the track but support his outreach to others when it comes to injuries like his.

“I’m glad they’ve connected with me because they also handle brachial plexus cases.,” he said. “I feel like it’s just a very serendipitous partnership and I hope it goes far.”

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Chris Hacker has faced many challenges, in life, and in racing. He is overcoming those however, and while it may not be as fast a climb to the big leagues as he envisioned, the higher he gets the more he learns.

“I told my parents I wanted to be a NASCAR driver by the time I was 18,” he said. “But the older I get the more I’m learning that it’s better to walk and get there walking, than try to run there and trip over yourself.”

He hopes his next move will be to a full-time season in the Truck or Xfinity series next year. And that’s something he’s working on. He’s sure to face more challenges but he’s ready for them. His goal is to be in a NASCAR Cup series car at least part-time when the field takes the green at Daytona in 2025 while competing full-time in the Xfinity series.

Challenging? Sure. But for the young Indiana native challenges are something he’s dealt with all his life, and jumping over hurdles is almost second nature.

“If it takes longer, you know, it takes longer,” he said of his 2025 goal. “I mean you can’t rush the good things in life. So, just however long it takes I’ll still be enjoying the ride on the way to get there.”