Jerry Baxter joins David Gilliland Racing to Crew Chief for Tanner Gray in 2022

Whitton/LAT

    It was announced this afternoon (11/11/21) that Jerry Baxter, well known for his time as a Crew Chief a Richard Petty Motorsports throughout the past two seasons, will move to David Gilliland Racing to Crew Chief the No. 15 team of Tanner Gray for the 2022 season. Baxter will move from the NASCAR Cup Series to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Baxter, a 63 year old veteran Crew Chief has worked with the likes of Darrell and Michael Waltrip, Martin Truex, Jr., Ernie Irvan, Trevor Bayne, David Reutimann, Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, and many more. As it obvious from that list of drivers, Jerry Baxter knows talent better than most, and with 35 years in the sport he's been able to show it with his name tied to 18 victories, 81 top-5 finishes, and 174 top-10 finishes. 

Baxter's greatest results never came in the NASCAR Cup Series, instead he saw immense success in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, especially when he worked for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Baxter's return to the Cup Series came in a trying time for Bubba Wallace and Richard Petty Motorsports. The duo had not had much funding through sponsorship, and needed to achieve results. Jerry Baxter, previously scoring five victories with Wallace in the Truck Series was the man for the job, and for one season the two would work together. Wallace's average finish improved from 23.9 (in 2019) to 21.1 (in 2020) in part due to Baxter's addition to the team. 

Now, Baxter has gotten a second look at the level of competition in the Cup Series and he has more than enough tools to return to a lower series and bring high performance with him. David Gilliland Racing's Truck Series efforts might just be the perfect place for Baxter to start. DGR is a fairly decent team, bringing the equipment to the track that can contend for wins (proven by Tyler Ankrum in 2019 and Ryan Preece in 2021). While this team can win, it is evident by the fact that they have only ever recorded two victories that they may need some adjustments before that number can exponentially grow. With his immense experience, Jerry Baxter is a great contender and with any luck will bring great results for the team. 

Now that Baxter will sit atop the No. 15 pit box in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, this means that Marcus Richmond the most recent (of many) crew chiefs for that team will not be returning in that manner next season. Richmond may retain a job with the team, or bring his crew chief-ing skills elsewhere. That remains unknown.