Kyle Busch will be getting a new crew chief for the 2021 NASCAR Cup season and that should have motorsport punters on BetMGM wondering how this will affect the 2021 season. The move is part of the crew chief shuffle announced by Joe Gibbs Racing Tuesday.
Adam Stevens, who joined with Kyle Busch in 2015 and returned to the Busch team in 2016, will move to the No. 20 Toyota team with driver Christopher Bell. Ben Beshore will return to the Cup series as crew chief for the No. 18 Toyota team of Busch. Beshore was engineer for the 18 team prior to moving to JGR’s Xfinity Series as crew chief in 2019. Chris Gabehart and James Small will continue to serve as crew chief for the No. 11 and No. 19 teams respectively.
Together Stevens and Busch won 28 races in the Cup series along with two Cup titles. Busch made the 2020 Playoffs but didn’t win a race until late in the season after he was eliminated from championship contention.
In the NASCAR Xfinity series, the team said Jason Ratcliff will return to the organization as crew chief for the No. 20 Toyota Supra driven by Harrison Burton, while Dave Rogers will work with newly named JGR driver Daniel Hemric in the No. 18 Toyota Supra. Jeff Meendering will continue to serve as the crew chief with Brandon Jones, who returns behind the wheel of the No. 19 Toyota Supra.
The team also said they will have fourth NASCAR Xfinity Series entry in 2021, appointing Chris Gayle to lead the No. 54 Toyota Supra team which will be driven by a team of all-star caliber drivers. The 2021 driver lineup and race schedule for the No. 54 Toyota Supra will be announced at a later date.
“We go through a process at the conclusion of every season that includes evaluating each of our teams,” said Joe Gibbs, Owner of Joe Gibbs Racing. “We believe our crew chief lineup for 2021 will best position each team and driver for success across both series.
“We take a lot of pride in our depth of talent across our entire organization. All of our crew chiefs are proven winners. We are also looking forward to bringing the No. 54 Toyota Supra back to the track in 2021 with an exciting team of drivers.”
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.
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