 Fennig in 1998 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Born | September 15, 1953 Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| Sport | |
| Country | United States |
| Sport | NASCAR |
Jimmy Fennig (born September 15, 1953 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is a longtime NASCAR crew chief. He was the crew chief for Kurt Busch's 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series' championships. [1] [2] Fennig has collected 40 Cup wins as crew chief. [3]
Fennig raced asphalt and dirt cars in Wisconsin starting in 1970. [2] He raced as a driver until joining the NASCAR Winston Cup Series in 1984 for DiGard Motorsports. [2] Fennig moved to the American Speed Association (ASA) in 1985 for Mark Martin. [2] In their two seasons together in ASA, the duo had 9 wins, 13 pole positions, and the 1986 championship. [2]
Fennig returned to the Winston Cup Series as the crew chief for Bobby Allison at Stavola Brothers Racing in 1987. Earlier, Fennig had owned a car that Allison raced in Wisconsin and Michigan on Saturday nights. [4] Allison won two races during their two years together, including the 1988 Daytona 500. [2] The following season, he was paired with fellow Wisconsin racer Dick Trickle, who won the 1989 Winston Cup Rookie of the Year award. [2]
Fennig continued to work with then-team owner Bobby Allison until Fennig left the team in October 1996 to join Roush Racing to become Martin's crew chief. [2] Martin/Fennig had 4 wins in 1997, 24 Top 10s, and 3 poles to finish third in the points. [2] Martin finished second in 1998 points with seven victories. [2] They remained together for three more wins, until they went winless in the 2001 Cup season. [2] Jack Roush moved Fennig to the No. 97 crew to be the crew chief for young Kurt Busch in 2002, and Ben Leslie became the crew chief for Mark Martin. The swap was a success as Busch won the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series title in 2004. It was the first year of the Chase for the Cup. Busch dedicated his title to Fennig. Fennig was named the Sporting News crew chief of the year. [5] He continued in that role until 2006. He started out the season as Jamie McMurray's crew chief, and he became the head of Roush Racing Busch Series effort. Fennig became the crew chief for David Ragan after Ragan replaced Martin in the #6 car in 2007, and he remained in that role for 2008.
For the 2013 season, Fennig replaced Chad Norris as crew chief for Carl Edwards. The pair won in their second race together, at Phoenix International Raceway.
Roush talked about Fennig in 2004: "Jimmy Fennig is an unsung hero at Roush Racing. He doesn't do things that create a personal image away from the driver or away from the sponsor or away from the team. He's the trooper that's back there doing everything that he can everyday." [6]
Fennig retired after the 2014 season. [7]
Matthew Roy Kenseth is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the Superstar Racing Experience. (SRX), driving the No. 17 car.
Mark Anthony Martin is an American retired stock car racing driver. He has the second most wins all time in what is now the Xfinity Series with 49. He scored 40 Cup Series wins. He finished second in the NASCAR Cup Series standings five times, third in the NASCAR Cup Series standings four times, and has been described by ESPN as "The best driver to never win a championship." Martin also failed to win the Daytona 500 during his career. Martin has five IROC Championships, more than any other driver. Also, during the 2005 season, he took over the all-time record for IROC wins, with 13. Martin is the final driver born in the 1950s to win a NASCAR Cup Series race.
Dale Arnold Jarrett is a former American race car driver and current racing commentator for NBC. He is best known for winning the Daytona 500 three times and winning the NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship in 1999. He is the son of 2-time Grand National Champion Ned Jarrett, younger brother of Glenn Jarrett, father of former driver Jason Jarrett, and cousin of Todd Jarrett. In 2007, Jarrett joined the ESPN/ABC broadcasting team as an announcer in select Nationwide Series races. In 2008, after retiring from driving following the 2008 Food City 500, he joined ESPN permanently as the lead racing analyst replacing Rusty Wallace. In 2015, Jarrett became a part of the NBC Sports Broadcasting Crew for NASCAR events. He was inducted in the 2014 class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
James Peter Spencer is an American former racing driver, team owner, talk show host and television commentator. He is best known for competing in NASCAR. He hosted the NASCAR-inspired talk show, What’s the Deal?, on Speed, and was co-host, with John Roberts and Kenny Wallace, of Speed's pre-race and post-race NASCAR shows NASCAR RaceDay and NASCAR Victory Lane. Before retiring, Spencer had a segment on Speed's NASCAR Race Hub offering commentary and answering viewer questions. During his days racing modifieds, he was nicknamed "Mr. Excitement" for his aggressive racing style. Spencer is one of the few drivers to have won a race in all three of NASCAR's top series: the NASCAR Cup Series, the Xfinity Series, and the Camping World Truck Series.
Jeffrey Tyler Burton, nicknamed "the Mayor", is an American former professional stock car racing driver and current racing commentator. He is a member of the Burton racing family. He scored 21 career victories in the NASCAR Cup Series, including two Coca-Cola 600s in 1999 and 2001 and the 1999 Southern 500. He currently serves as a color commentator for NBC Sports, having joined them upon their return to their coverage of NASCAR. His son Harrison competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and nephew Jeb Burton currently competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, while his brother Ward Burton has also raced in the Cup Series.
Michael Duane Bliss is an American professional stock car racing driver. A journeyman NASCAR competitor and the 2002 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, he has run in all three national series.
Jonathan Thomas Benson Jr. is an American retired stock car racing driver and the son of former Michigan modified driver John Benson Sr. Benson has raced across NASCAR's three national series, and his career highlights include the 1993 American Speed Association AC-Delco Challenge series championship, the 1995 NASCAR Busch Series championship, the 1996 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Rookie of the Year Award, and the 2008 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship.
Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, doing business as RFK Racing, is an American professional stock car organization that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. One of NASCAR's largest racing teams in the 2000s and early 2010s, Roush formerly ran teams in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, ARCA Menards Series, Trans-Am Series and IMSA Camel GT. The team currently fields the No. 6 Ford Mustang GT full-time for driver/co-owner Brad Keselowski and the No. 17 Mustang full-time for Chris Buescher.
Theodore David Musgrave Sr. is an American former stock car racing driver.
Todd Alan Kluever is an American stock car racing driver. He raced in all of the top three NASCAR series in the 2000s.
Robert Reiser is a former crew chief and a general manager for RFK Racing. Reiser is the son of Alice and John Reiser, who served as general manager for Roush Racing's Busch and Craftsman Truck series race shops.
David Lee Ragan is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 15 Ford Mustang for Rick Ware Racing, and is also an analyst for NASCAR on Fox on NASCAR Race Hub.
The 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series was the 59th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 36th modern-era Cup series. Beginning on February 10 at Daytona International Speedway with the Budweiser Shootout, the season ended on November 18 at Homestead-Miami Speedway with the Ford 400. The Chase for the Nextel Cup started with the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway and was contested over the final ten races.
The 2007 Nextel Open and Nextel All-Star Challenge was a professional auto race held on Saturday, May 19, 2007, at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte. Native Carolinian and former NBA player Michael Jordan was the grand marshal of the event.
Donnie Wingo is a crew chief in NASCAR who last worked on the No. 34 team of Landon Cassill for Front Row Motorsports. Wingo has seven career Sprint Cup victories as a crew chief.
Paul Brian Pattie is an American auto racing crew chief who works for Kyle Busch Motorsports as the crew chief for their No. 51 Chevrolet Silverado in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driven by Kyle Busch and Jack Wood. He has achieved six wins in the NASCAR Cup Series, one with Montoya, three with Bowyer, and two with Stenhouse. He has 21 wins overall as a crew chief.
James Ince is an American NASCAR crew chief. He served as crew chief for various teams such as Roush Racing, Tyler Jet Motorsports, MB2 Motorsports, and MBV Racing.
Carl Michael Edwards Jr. is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. Prior to that, he drove the No. 99 Ford Fusion for Roush Fenway Racing. He won the 2007 NASCAR Busch Series championship and nearly won the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title, but lost by a tiebreaker to Tony Stewart. Edwards is known for doing a backflip off his car to celebrate his victories. In 2023, he was named one of NASCAR's 75 Greatest Drivers.
Founded in 1988, the NASCAR program is built around having multiple cars and providing engine, engineering and race car build services to other NASCAR teams fielding Ford branded vehicles. The multi-team aspect of the company allows for information and resources to be shared across the enterprise, improving the performance of all of the teams. Since the 2004 season, engines for the cars have been provided by Roush-Yates Engines, a partnership between Roush Fenway Racing and now-closed rival Yates Racing, with Doug Yates as head engine builder. Roush-Yates also provides engines, cars and parts to other Cup teams, including Wood Brothers Racing, Team Penske, Stewart-Haas Racing, and Front Row Motorsports.
Roush Fenway Racing's Xfinity Series operation began in 1992 with the No. 60 driven by Mark Martin. The No. 60 team has been dominant throughout its history, amassing many wins with Martin; three driver's championships with Greg Biffle in 2002, Carl Edwards in 2007, and Chris Buescher in 2015; and an owner's championship with Edwards in 2011. The No. 6 team won back-to-back driver's championships in 2011 & 2012 with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Following the departures of Ryan Reed, Chase Briscoe, and Austin Cindric, Roush's Xfinity program was closed following the 2018 season.