Travis Peterson will be part of Spire Motorsports subsequent season to crew chief for Michael McDowell and the No. 71 staff.
It’s a multiyear settlement for Peterson. Peterson and McDowell at the moment work collectively at Entrance Row Motorsports, the place they’ve been paired on the No. 34 staff since 2023. The duo gained on the Indianapolis street course final 12 months.
“It’s thrilling to have Travis Peterson be part of Spire Motorsports,” Spire Motorsports president Doug Duchardt mentioned. “The primary time Travis and I labored collectively was when Greg Ives and Travis got here to Hendrick Motorsports to be the crew chief and the engineer for the No. 88 automobile with Dale [Earnhardt] Jr. I received to spend time with Travis there as a younger engineer and it’s thrilling to see how he’s grown into a pacesetter and a crew chief.
“He’s going so as to add large depth to our crew chief lineup and be a terrific praise to Luke [Lambert] and Rodney [Childers]. I’m actually excited to see what these three can do collectively.”
Spire Motorsports will subject three entries subsequent season with McDowell, Carson Hocevar and a 3rd driver nonetheless to be named. McDowell’s staff, the No. 71, will grow to be a full-fledged Spire Motorsports effort subsequent season, which included needing a crew chief, as Zane Smith strikes on. Smith is on mortgage to Spire Motorsports from Trackhouse Racing, and the No. 71 staff is at the moment made up of members from each organizations.
Peterson has beforehand labored for JR Motorsports and Hendrick Motorsports. He was a lead engineer for Jack Roush earlier than transferring to Entrance Row Motorsports. The 2025 season will probably be Peterson’s third as a Cup Collection crew chief.
“It’s a very thrilling alternative,” Peterson mentioned. “Michael and I had the chance to fulfill with Doug [Duchardt] and [Jeff] Dickerson they usually actually bought us on the imaginative and prescient of the place Spire goes and the way we could possibly be huge position gamers in constructing the group. I feel having that pores and skin within the sport was necessary to each of us. The chance in entrance of us has all of the potential to be very rewarding. That was an enormous a part of it.
“I like the power proper now and the general tradition round Spire Motorsports. They’re investing in folks and staff possession is extremely engaged. The mindset is ‘We’re going to do what it takes to win and that is what we need to construct. Right here’s the imaginative and prescient, the place we’re going, what we’re going to do to get there, and we wish you to be a part of it.’ That was the largest promoting level.
“There are occasions if you meet folks and you might be instantly in a position to naturally talk on an actual degree. I really feel like [he and McDowell] have been that manner from the beginning. We didn’t need to work at it. Our personalities, the way in which we overtly talk, and our trustworthy nature helped us click on from the beginning. We’ve got no drawback speaking about onerous stuff or simple stuff. We could be glad collectively once we win and be unhappy collectively once we lose. There is no such thing as a pink tape. We simply work. It’s onerous to recreate that. Staying collectively is a big half in coming to Spire Motorsports for each of us. It’s onerous to place a worth on a driver/crew chief pairing, however there’s an intangible there. We simply understand it has been working, and if we will maintain it going, we’re solely going to get higher over time. That’s what we’re chasing. We need to proceed to develop and get higher collectively.”
