Richard Buck Is New NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Managing Director

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - JANUARY 09: Richard Buck is named managing director of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at a press conference during NASCAR Preseason Thunder at Daytona International Speedway on January 9, 2014 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jerry Markland/NASCAR via Getty Images)
DAYTONA BEACH, FL - JANUARY 09:  Richard Buck is named managing director of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series  at a press conference during NASCAR Preseason Thunder at Daytona International Speedway on January 9, 2014 in Daytona Beach, Florida.  (Photo by Jerry Markland/NASCAR via Getty Images)
DAYTONA BEACH, FL – JANUARY 09: Richard Buck is named managing director of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at a press conference during NASCAR Preseason Thunder at Daytona International Speedway on January 9, 2014 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jerry Markland/NASCAR via Getty Images)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — With the appointment of Richard Buck as NASCAR Sprint Cup Series managing director, a three-year “mystery” finally comes to an end.

Buck, currently serving as vice president of racing operations for the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) will assume his new duties after the completion of the Rolex 24 At Daytona on Jan. 26.

Buck will replace current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Director John Darby, who will remain with the sanctioning body as managing director, competition.

“Thanks for reminding me that we’ve been saying this for the last three years, that we were going to replace Darby as the Cup series director, which has been part of our game plan,” NASCAR President Mike Helton quipped at a Thursday news conference at Daytona International Speedway.

“Once we started that effort, what became apparent to us was the need for recreating the NASCAR competition group, and so we didn’t look as hard as we probably should have for a long time, knowing that there was a lot of internal work that was going to come…”

In addition to his role with IMSA, Buck has served simultaneously as managing director of NASCAR’s Touring Series. In a varied career in racing, Buck played a key role in the development of a “spec” engine for what are now the NASCAR K&N Pro East and West Series.

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.