Interview: Rutledge Wood heads from NASCAR to the Kentucky Derby

NBC Sports’ Rutledge Wood covers his second Kentucky Derby on Saturday, and spoke with FanSided about how it differs from the world of NASCAR.

Rutledge Wood is one of the top NASCAR personalities on television: smart, engaging, and loved by everyone who knows him. But on Saturday he’s trading in the racetrack for the horse track as he returns to cover his second Kentucky Derby.

Before the festivities, FanSided spoke to Rutledge about how much the Kentucky Derby differs from covering a NASCAR race (not as much as you’d think!) and what he has in store for fans who tune into NBC and NBCSN this weekend.

“Having traveled with NASCAR for so many years, I really thought that I had a great grasp on what just insane, over-the-top sporting events were like,” he told us. “And when I was out here last year, I realized that I had no idea what the Kentucky Derby was actually like. It was such an eye-opening experience.

“The best way I could try and describe it is, it’s like going to a fashion show from the 1940s that’s at a place a little bit bigger than Bristol Motor Speedway, and everyone is drinking their faces off,” he laughed. “Honestly, it’s the craziest sporting event I’ve ever seen.”

He’s part of an all-star crew for the Kentucky Derby that includes fellow NASCAR reporters Krista Voda and Carolyn Manno, as well as Mike Tirico doing his first Triple Crown duties since coming to NBC Sports. Wood’s job throughout the weekend will be to give fans a look at places and people that they’ve never seen before, though he told us there can be some real characters.

“Last year, I met a guy who was not a huge fan of us on [his former History series] Top Gear in the infield, and he had been greatly overserved,” he revealed. “And I laughed thinking I’ve interviewed tons of fans from every single track on the NASCAR circuit, never had a single issue. And I almost got into a fight last year. Because this dude was coming after me.

“I thought, how is it I’m going to a much classier type of racing, and a dude in a bow tie wants to throw haymakers at me? And in Talledega, I feel like the mayor,” he continued. “That was my first real experience here last year. But that guy seemed lovely, besides not being a huge fan of mine.”

“The great thing was how many people walking around the infield knew me and had seen me on NBC doing other stuff, and of course Top Gear fans too,” he added. “That was a really cool thing to see because I just want to go out there and I want to experience [the race] like they do.”

But fan encounters are only one part of what Rutledge is bringing to the Kentucky Derby. “Carson Kressley is also going to be here, and I’m going to find out just how terrible he thinks my suits are,” he revealed. “Fashion, as always, will be a big part of what goes on up here.”

Transitioning from NASCAR to the Kentucky Derby might seem like a big challenge, but he told us that it’s helped by the fact several of his NASCAR colleagues are also part of the coverage.

“Carolyn and I have done so much stuff on NASCAR America, and Krista is the same way. The same friends of mine that I work with every single week trying to bring people really fun NASCAR coverage, to know that they’re here and have the same sort of passion for a different kind of racing,” he explained, “I think that’s one of the things that NBC does so well. Just top to bottom, mixing and matching, and making people still feel welcome, whether it’s us that are working here or the fans at home.”

Of course, once Kentucky Derby weekend ends, Rutledge will return to his regular NASCAR duties for NBC Sports and told us what we can expect from him in the rest of the 2017 NASCAR season.

“My friend Kyle Petty and I have been working on the show Racing Roots. You’ll see more of those on NBC Sports coming up once we take over for racing in July,” he said. “But we went to Northern California and spent a few days with Kyle Larson up there, and that’s a great time. It’s always such an eye-opening experience to see these drivers, and see where they’re from, and meet their family and friends; it’s a really cool thing.

“Kyle and I went to Monterrey, Mexico, and we spent two days with Daniel Suarez and his family in Mexico. That was unbelievable, to see how much sacrifice that family put on the line. The fact that his dad sold his car shop and put all of that money into sending Daniel, who didn’t speak a lick of English at the time, to come up and go racing? That was a huge thing. Plus we did one with Clint Bowyer; that’ll be coming up.

“We might get to do another [season of] Shotgun, which was a fun show we did on NBC with my friend at Toyota, Because any time you can put people in different kinds of race cars and ask them questions, it’s really fun it turns out,” he laughed. “Everyone was just smiling the entire time thinking, we scared these people, and we’re asking them who’s on a five-dollar bill? And that’s a brilliant idea.

“I’m on NASCAR America almost every week doing something different, so I’ll keep doing that,” he added. “And then in July we take over [coverage] for the next Daytona race and we’ll have the rest of the NASCAR season.”

What about the rumor that he may reunite with his Top Gear co-hosts Adam Ferrara and Tanner Foust? Well, it’s still a possibility.

“I’m going to see those boys next week,” he revealed. “We are going to hopefully continue the great legacy of three idiots in cars that we started, and we’re going to do that in a bigger and better way.”

While nothing is for certain yet, what we do know is that Rutledge Wood will bring just as much fun and energy to NBC’s coverage of the Kentucky Derby as he does to its NASCAR coverage each week. No matter what he’s doing, he’s doing it with more enthusiasm than anyone else. And his adventures in Kentucky are ones you won’t want to miss.

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You can catch Rutledge Wood this Saturday as part of NBC Sports’ Kentucky Derby coverage. It starts with Kentucky Derby Prep at 12:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, followed by the Kentucky Derby at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC. You can also follow him on Twitter at @RutledgeWood.