Crew Chief Drew Blickensderfer leaving Front Row Motorsports

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

    It was announced Friday (12/17/2021), that crew chief Drew Blickensderfer will not return atop the pit box for Michael McDowell in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season. 

Prior to FRM, Blickensderfer had won 3 Cup races with two different drivers: David Ragan and Matt Kenseth.  In his first-two Cup races as a crew chief, Blickensderfer went to victory lane with Matt Kenseth and the No. 17 Roush Team. They won the 2009 Daytona 500 and won again the next week at Fontana, (now known as Auto Club Speedway). He won again at Daytona with David Ragan in 2011 when he drove for Roush. Blickensderfer would not reach victory lane again until the 2021 Daytona 500. 

After his time at Roush Racing, Blickensderfer made the move to Richard Childress Racing for the 2012 season. He would work with Jeff Burton for the first 33 races but would be replaced by crew chief Shane Wilson, spending the last 3 starts of the season working with Marcos Ambrose at Richard Petty Motorsports. The Ambrose and Blickensderfer team stayed together until the end of 2014. When Sam Hornish, Jr. joined the RPM camp in 2015, Blickensderfer stayed as the crew chief for the first 10 races of the season but would get replaced by Kevin Manion.

Staying in the RPM camp, Blickenderfer was paired with Aric Almirola for 7 starts in the 2016 season and would return for the 2017 season atop the pit box for the No. 43 team. When Almirola had his fiery crash at Kansas Speedway in May of 2017, his injuries kept him out of the car until New Hampshire in July. NASCAR Xfinity driver Bubba Wallace would fill in for 4 of the races, while driver Billy Johnson drove the No. 43 car at Sonoma. After Almirola announced that he was moving to Stewart-Haas Racing for 2018, Bubba Wallace would sit full-time in the No. 43. Wallace would come up with a runner-up finish in the 2018 Daytona 500. The 2018 Season would be Drew Blickensderfer's last year with Richard Petty Motorsports. 

Blickensderfer and McDowell have been paired at Front Row Motorsports since the start of the 2019 Cup Season. The duo has created the 4th and most recent victory for Drew Blickensderfer, in the 2021 Daytona 500, but has not come close to a second victory together.

Upon leaving the organization, he will be pursuing other options. A new crew chief for McDowell is to be announced in the coming weeks.

NEWS: A statement regarding crew chief Drew Blickensderfer: pic.twitter.com/uWKXrXvyq3

— Front Row Motorsports (@Team_FRM) December 17, 2021