Nicknames have a way of taking on a life of their own, good or bad.
Not everyone can be called “The Intimidator,” “Smoke” or “The King.”
Plus, it doesn’t help that you typically don’t get to choose what your nickname is.
Just ask Randall Burnett.
The crew chief for Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick stood in the No. 8 team’s hauler on May 15, hours before the NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway.
The topic of discussion was the ongoing struggle for both Reddick and Burnett to earn their respective first Cup Series wins.
The week before, Reddick had finished second to Joey Logano at Darlington Raceway. It was Reddick’s fifth career runner-up finish and his third of the season.
For Burnett, it was the sixth time for him to finish P2 as a Cup Series crew chief, dating back to the 2016 spring race at Martinsville Speedway with AJ Allmendinger. The Darlington result had come in Burnett’s 124th Cup race as a crew chief.
But Burnett had been used to the term “P2” long before his NASCAR career.
“It’s funny, my brother, so I used to race my own late models, and they nicknamed me ‘P2’ because I finished second in the late model all the time,” Burnett told me. “So every time I finish second, I get a razz and the trouble from my brother and all the guys that used to work on my late model.”
At this point, Reddick made his way through the hauler, stepping between me and Burnett on his way out to the garage.
Asked about it, Reddick didn’t know about his crew chief’s unfortunate moniker.
“Oh, well, it’s our nickname right now,” Reddick said. “P2².”
50 Days Later
“You’re my hero!”
Sitting on the No. 8 pit box, Burnett screamed into his headset as Reddick’s No. 8 Chevrolet screamed down the frontstretch at Road America to take the checkered flag.
With Chase Elliott, the Cup Series’ active leader in road course wins trailing behind him by seconds, Reddick finally claimed his first NASCAR Cup win in his 92nd attempt.
Reddick had passed Elliott for what would wind up being the lead with 17 laps to go around the 4-mile road course.
After a brief scare with two laps to go when teammate Austin Dillon cut his left-front tire, the final lap was uneventful. But what had it been like for Burnett?
“That last one wasn’t near as stressful as about the 18 before it,” Burnett told me.
After hopping down from the pit box and giving two radio interviews, Burnett started the long walk from pit box…
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