1on1: Jimmy Spencer

He is perhaps best known for punching Kurt Busch in the face following a race, but these days former NASCAR driver Jimmy Spencer is making his living as an analyst on SPEED -- where he definitely pulls no punches.

Currently the co-host of NASCAR RaceDay and NASCAR Victory Lane with John Roberts and Kenny Wallace, Spencer talked candidly about his new career, his own shortcomings as a driver, and what bugs him about today's crowd in the Sprint Cup Series garage.

Jimmy Spencer

By the Numbers

Cup Series starts	478
Cup Series wins	2
Cup Series top-fives	28
Cup Series top-10s	80
Cup Series poles	3
Best finish in Cup points	12th (1993)
Nationwide Series wins	12
Truck Series wins	1
Whelen Modified titles	2
Perennials newly planted	20-30
Busch brothers punched	1
Jeff Burton's chances of winning championship	0

• Stats: Cup | Nationwide | Truck

Q: How do you like your job as an analyst for SPEED?

Spencer: It was hard to get used to at first. The biggest thing is that when you say something that you feel is the truth, it offends somebody. So you walk in the garage area and somebody is mad at you. But I feel like I have to say those things, because if I didn't say those things, then I would not have the credibility that I have amongst the audience.

So that's the biggest thing that bothers me about doing TV. You can't make everybody happy.

Q: Has that been hard, since many of those people you're talking about are -- or have been -- your friends?

Spencer: Not all of 'em are my friends. It was really hard at first. But now I get over it pretty quick. [Former championship driver-turned-broadcaster] Darrell Waltrip told me once that it pays sometimes not to walk through the garage area. And Darrell, there are a lot of times when he gets people mad at him. But you try to give people the most honest answer and the most diplomatic way of saying somebody made a mistake or somebody did good or whatever.

But yeah, you walk through the garage area some days and it seems like a lot of people will give you that 'if I had a gun I would shoot you' look.

Q: Was it a difficult transition also because you wanted to continue driving at the time you moved to the broadcast booth?

Spencer: I was surprised. Rick Miner [SPEED Senior VP Programming/Production] called me and said, 'I'm telling you, this thing is going to work between you and Kenny Wallace and John Roberts.' And I was like, 'My God, I don't know if I'm gonna get along with Kenny.' But he insisted it would work.

I just owe a lot to Rick Miner from SPEED to put the whole thing together. ... The best thing he ever explained to me was when he said to think that you're sitting on your sofa and watching a show on TV, with your 10- or 12-year-old son or daughter sitting next to you and saying, 'What in the heck did he just say?' If you always keep that in mind when you explain something, you'll go far. But the minute you start to confuse people with language or words that you don't even understand sometimes, that's not good TV. You're not doing an interview to try to impress the CEO of a company; you're doing an interview to impress and inform a fan. Once I got over the stuff about saying this guy sucks or that team sucks right now or whatever, it felt good. It was like, 'OK, it's the truth. I can back it up. Plus, it's my opinion.' (Continued)