NFR Day 4: Sellars seeks bull riding title in NFR return — PHOTOS
Bull rider Clayton Sellars is making his first appearance at the National Finals Rodeo since 2021.
Sellars spent 2022 with the Professional Bull Riders and had an injury that sidelined him through most of the 2023 season.
He stopped in Las Vegas for NFR both years to watch friends and family members compete, and he thought of what it would take to get back on rodeo’s grandest stage.
“I got to watch and I got to visualize how it would be when I stepped foot back in this building, and I wish I was competing those years,” Sellars said. “But I was doing the best I could at that time to do what I was doing. What else could I do?”
Sellars is right in the mix for the bull riding world title entering this year’s NFR. On Saturday, Sellars won the go-round with a score of 87.5 points and claimed $34,774 in earnings at the Thomas & Mack Center.
“It felt good,” Sellars said. “It felt like I was moving and I was riding a little bit sloppy. It was kind of blurry and intense. It was a good ride, though, when it was all over with.”
The bull riding title is up for grabs. After Saturday’s third round, the top seven riders in the overall standings were separated by less than $30,000 in earnings. Sellars entered NFR fifth in the standings but jumped to third after his win Saturday, more than $7,000 behind leader Josh Frost.
“I’ll walk in here the best that I can be in that moment, as I’ll do all the moments before,” Sellars said. “That’s what I’ll do.”
‘Have to be my best’
On Sunday, Sellars did not receive a score after not lasting the full eight seconds on his ride. Frost claimed the go-round win with a score of 86.5 points to pad his lead.
“The other guys in the locker room are all good bull riders,” Sellars said. “They’re really good. You have to be your best. For me, every time I put my hand in the rope, I have to be my best.”
Sellars has put together a strong campaign in his first full season since 2021. He’s won eight events and was co-champion two other times. In his two years not competing at NFR, the 26-year-old said he did some “growing up.”
“There’s been some highs and lows, but it’s all been good because it’s been real,” Sellars said. “The fear is real. The hype is real. The nerves are real. The missing, homesickness is real. The wins are real, losses are — it’s real and it’s been good.”
A word the Sellars said he lives by is “truth.”
“What happened today, actually? What actually happened?” Sellars said. “Why did I do good or bad today? If you do that day after day after day, you start to narrow things down, and things get easier and harder at the same time. But they get clearer.”
‘Skill on skill’
Sellars did not claim any earnings on the first two nights. He said after his win Saturday that he felt “fulfilled” to get his first-ever go-round win at NFR. Sellars finished sixth in the 2021 standings and was 12th in 2019 and 2020.
“I set some really big goals at the beginning of the year, and I decided that I was going to dedicate the entire year to them as best I could,” Sellars said. “I failed so much, man, like there were so many days where I was like, ‘Holy cow, this is never gonna work out.’ But I also didn’t fail sometimes, and win or lose, I just kept putting my head down and doing what I was going to do.”
There’s plenty of competition in this year’s bull riding class gunning for the world title. The competition is one reason why Sellars has to be at his best every time he goes out, but he said there are other reasons why every run matters.
“One, because it’s dangerous. If I’m not my best, something could seriously go wrong,” Sellars said. “Two, it’s bull riding. It’s total conviction. You put your hand in there, it’s everything you have or it can go seriously wrong. It’s never been a guy-against-other-guys thing for me, but the competition is very high. It’s skill on skill, like, who has it.”
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.