Mike Massaro Grateful To Be 2022 ARCA MAVTV Pit Reporter

After being out of the NASCAR industry for five years, Mike Massaro returned to serv as the MAVTV pit reporter this season.

The Connecticut native has been with the station that is broadcasting 11 of the 20 ARCA Menards Series races this year while also serving as a reporter for NBC Connecticut.

In previous roles, Massaro voiced play-by-play for MRN Radio, worked as a reporter and producer for Inside NASCAR on TNN and was a reporter and anchor for ESPN and NBC Sports.

Frontstretch ARCA editor Mark Kristl spoke to Massaro to learn what he did in between his auto racing TV jobs, his thoughts on covering ARCA for the first time in 2022 and which drivers have impressed him as up-and-coming stars.

Mark Kristl, Frontstretch: How has it been covering auto racing again?

Mike Massaro: It breathes life into my soul again. I’d been away from it for so long, and I forgot how much I really loved it — being a part of the sport and being a part of the broadcast. For a very long time, I didn’t think I was going to have the opportunity to do it again.

This year has been a life changer in a good way. While it’s not the NASCAR Cup Series, it’s not a network broadcast for NBC Sports or ESPN, I still feel that same adrenaline. I still feel that same energy that I used to get when I was a pit reporter for those networks, and I’m really enjoying it.

Conversely, because it’s not as intense of an environment, I think I’m enjoying it more. I have more access to drivers than I’ve ever had. I’ve gotten to know them as people closer than you could ever do in the Cup Series, which is exciting to me, because I know so many of these drivers are the future of NASCAR. So it’s interesting to me to get to know them right now because I can almost see their futures. They have some bright futures, and I’m excited to see them right now before they get there. To be at the embryonic stage of their racing careers, that’s special and you cannot replace that experience.

Kristl: Why did you think you might never cover auto racing again?

Massaro: It had been more than five years, and my phone had not rung. Believe me, I made many phone calls those first couple of years when I was out of it, and there wasn’t any opportunity for me.

So I moved on, and I started working as a reporter and an anchor for the local NBC news affiliate here in Hartford, Conn., — it’s known as NBC Connecticut. I’ve done that for the past three years, and that’s really been…