NASCAR winner, once told he'd never compete again, is back at Talladega

If Ryan Reed had listened to his doctor's advice, he would have given up on his NASCAR dream nearly a decade and a half ago.

Instead, he returns to the Truck Series at Talladega Superspeedway this weekend as an experienced NASCAR veteran, set to drive the No. 91 Chevrolet for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing in Friday night's Love's RV Stop 225 for his first start of the year.

It is fitting that the 31-year-old Bakersfield, California native, who competed full-time in the Xfinity Series from 2014 to 2018, is competing in Friday's 85-lap race around the four-turn, 2.66-mile (4.281-kilometer) high-banked Lincoln, Alabama oval with sponsorship from Tandem Diabetes Care.

Tandem sponsored Reed, a Type 1 diabetic, when he made another one-off appearance in the Truck Series at Darlington Raceway in 2021, and they returned last October when he made his first Xfinity Series start in five years at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

But none of it would have been possible had he not defied the odds, found a doctor who actually believed in him after having been told by another that he couldn't do it, and took advantage of the ample support offered by his family and friends when he was first diagnosed with the disease at the age of 17.

"It was a really tough diagnosis," Reed told Beyond the Flag, ahead of his first Truck Series start since 2021. "I think that getting diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes is never easy. I think that when you have a passion or a career that is extremely high demanding, such as motorsports, it can make the diagnosis even more of a difficult or scary time.

"I know it certainly was in my case. I was diagnosed in 2011. It was a long time ago, and technology has come a long, long way since then, but I think that there were a few takeaways from it.

"Number one, yeah, when I was told I would never race again, obviously extreme, extreme disappointment, and so much confusion, and I was very scared for what was next for me. I was 17 years old; I was moving across the country to go pursue this dream and passion of mine.

"It was everything I had worked for and was continuing to work for, and then a disease that I knew nothing about nor chose, nor did anything wrong, I didn't – folks who get diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, it wasn't a lifestyle thing, it was nothing that was in their control, so it's a very tough pill to swallow when you know your dreams and aspirations are potentially stripped by something you had no ability to control."

Everything changed when he found the right doctor, a doctor whom he says he wouldn't be here without.

"Fortunately, though, I was able to find a wonderful doctor by the name of Anne Peters, who is just such a big part of my story and my life, and without her, I truly don't know if I ever get back into a race car," Reed continuned.

"But I was super fortunate to have a great family who were there to support me during that time, and my folks did a great job of instilling discipline and persistence. There are a lot of things to go around to be able to battle through that. I certainly didn't do it alone."

A young Reed made it his goal to prove the naysayers wrong and continue on his career path to becoming a NASCAR driver.

Having competed on some level in NASCAR since 2011, having spent five full seasons at NASCAR's second highest level, having won twice at Daytona International Speedway, and having finished as high as sixth place in the Xfinity Series championship, it's safe to say that that determination paid off in a big way.

"Yeah, did I want to, at 17 years old – yeah, I wanted to prove that doctor wrong, no doubt," Reed stated. "I wanted to. I hope that when I won Daytona, I hope that that doctor was watching."

But not specifically for Reed's own sake, he says.

"I think less to be like 'I told you so', maybe a little bit of 'I told you so', but mainly because it's like, if you don't know for sure, you don't have absolute certainty that someone can't do something with their life because of a disease, don't say it, right? Educate, right?"

Reed scored his first career win at Daytona at the age of 21 to open up the 2015 season, and he added another to open up the 2017 season.

"There's so much technology that the doctor didn't even know existed, CGMs and different insulin therapies, and so I think that was where my frustration and disappointment set in, was that you see people get these really difficult messages handed down to them, and I'm a kid, right? I'm going trust what the doctor has to say, they're a medical professional. But it's not all doom and gloom. There are a ton of very passionate people in the medical field who care and educate themselves, and I'm really thankful for those people."

Reed certainly isn't the only athlete to compete at a high level with Type 1 diabetes. In fact, there are several other race car drivers who do the same.

"There are so many," he said. "One of my really good friends, Conor Daly, who races in the IndyCar Series, he has Type 1, he and I have shared many, many stories. I think we’ve drawn inspiration from each other. I think we've offered each other tips here and there of what we do in the race car to help manage it, but there are so many amazing stories that are out there.

"Miguel Paludo is another race car driver who has raced with Type 1 for a long time. Chad Muma, who is an NFL player for the Jacksonville Jaguars, I've just gotten to know him in the last year and a half or so, but such a great kid, works so, so hard, and is just a great, great example and inspiration."

"There are so many more. Gary Hall, the Olympic swimmer, he is someone who has one of the first stories I read that I drew inspiration from at a young age. So there are a lot of guys who were pioneers and kind of trailblazers for the diabetes community."

But it's not just other athletes whom Reed is looking to inspire.

"I really hope that throughout the years, I've done my part to demonstrate through the racing platform something to somebody," he concluded. "There are so many more [stories] and there will continue to be more. I see stories and kids out there who are just absolutely crushing it, whether it's through sports or whether it's through education or hard work, or it's something as simple as someone who goes to the gym every day.

"You see these stories, these incredibly fit individuals. If you have diabetes, you know how hard it is just to go out for an hour and a half on a lot of days. I think a lot of the athletes get a lot of the spotlight, but I think that there are a lot of folks who just get up every day and kind of look it square in the face and go to war with it and live with it and live a really happy life, and I think that that deserves to be celebrated, because it's a very difficult disease."

The Love's RV Stop 225 is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 from Talladega Superspeedway starting at 5:00 p.m. ET this Friday, October 4. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss it!