Tyler Allen (motorsport)

Last updated
Tyler Allen
Tyler Allen NASCAR Race Engineer.jpg
Allen at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2014
Personal information
Birth nameTyler Kristian Allen
Born (1987-11-15) November 15, 1987 (age 37)
Tacoma, Washington, U.S.
Alma mater University of Washington
Occupation(s) NASCAR race engineer and crew chief
Sport
Country United States
Sport Motor racing
League NASCAR Cup Series
TeamNo. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing

Tyler Kristian Allen (born November 15, 1987) is an American NASCAR crew chief who works for Joe Gibbs Racing as the crew chief for their No. 54 Toyota Camry XSE in the NASCAR Cup Series driven by Ty Gibbs.

Contents

Allen has worked in NASCAR since 2012. He started his career with Venturini Motorsports in the ARCA Racing Series where he spent two years working as car chief on the No. 25 car driven by Brennan Poole and Alex Bowman and later moved to RAB Racing where he was the race engineer for No. 99 Nationwide Series Toyota Camry driven by James Buescher. In 2019, Allen and the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota Camry Team won the NASCAR Cup Series Championship with crew chief Adam Stevens and driver Kyle Busch. In 2023, he was a crew chief for JGR in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Allen is a graduate of the University of Washington where he achieved a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering and was part of the UW Formula SAE team for 4 years.

Early years

The Allen racing gene comes from his grandfather Robert Allen. "Grandpa Bob" had started racing in the 1950s on the small dirt tracks of California, ultimately ending up racing Hydroplanes in the Pacific Northwest which led him to a National Hydroplane Championship in 1983. [1] [2] From a young age Allen was raised around the small tracks of the Pacific Northwest as his father Terry and two uncles Mike and John raced 1/2 sized stock cars. [3]

In 2007 Allen was accepted to the University of Washington School of Mechanical Engineering. As part of his engineering studies, he joined the UW Formula SAE team and was assigned to the suspension design team. [4] While attending school, Allen started Allen Racing and began driving Limited Late Model Stock cars. Allen competed for three years at South Sound Speedway where he completed his third year finishing second in points for the South Sound Limited Late Model championship. [5] In 2010 Allen finished his racing in the Pacific Northwest competing at Evergreen Speedway in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series.

Allen supported his racing working for ROMAC Industries where he was a Product Development Engineer responsible for the design, prototyping, component testing, manufacturing, production tooling development and cost analysis of a new product called the PIRANHA. [6] Allen left ROMAC at the end of 2010 to move to North Carolina and pursue his dream of competing and winning in NASCAR.

Richard Petty Drivers Search II

In September 2010 Allen was chosen as part of the Richard Petty Driver Search I. [2] Allen competed against 12 other drivers from around the world for a chance to race in the ARCA Racing Series for Richard Petty Motorsports. Allen drove to a fifth overall finish, taking first in Mechanical and Marketing categories of the driving competition. [7]

Move to North Carolina

Allen relocated to North Carolina to pursue working in NASCAR. Allen was hired by Richard Petty Driving Experience as a driving instructor, where he traveled across the United States driving stock cars on some of the most famous race tracks in North America, including Charlotte Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Daytona Int'l Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, and Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Allen worked with NASCAR stock car racing driver and crew chief Brad Noffsinger, who is currently lead instructor and head of driver development at Richard Petty Driving Experience. [8] Allen supported Noffsigner's USAC Ford Focus Carolina Series team.

ARCA Racing Series

In late 2011 Allen went to work for Venturini Motorsports where he volunteered as a shop helper. He was quickly hired and started work as a shop mechanic, fabricating and building race cars in preparation for the 2012 season. Allen was assigned to Crew Chief Billy Venturini as Car Chief for the 2012 Season. Allen led chassis setup plate, pull down rig analysis and simulation, including wind tunnel aerodynamic testing. Allen was soon promoted to Car Chief working for Billy Venturini and driver Brennan Poole where they had a successful ARCA season with 2 wins, 3 poles, 5 top 5 and 15 top ten finishes. [9]

NASCAR Nationwide/Xfinity Series

In 2012 Allen made his move to NASCAR where he was hired by RAB Racing with Brack Maggard as the race engineer for the #99 car driven by Alex Bowman. Allen was teamed up with veteran Crew Chief Chris Rice where they finished the 2012 season with two top 5s, five top 10s, and six top 15 finishes [10]

Allen continued to develop his chassis set up skills at RAB Racing using static and dynamic vehicle testing procedures while developing and executing vehicle test plans that utilized pull down rigs, 8-Post Shaker, AVCS Rig and wind tunnel testing. [11] Allen worked closely with engineering resources from Toyota Racing Development (TRD) utilizing their vast resources and race experience to develop pre-season testing strategies using MoTec and PI OSIsoftreal time data capture and analysis. Matt Lucas took over as Crew Chief for James Buescher replacing Chris Rice who moved to NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. [12] [13]

In December 2014 Allen was hired by Joe Gibbs Racing as a race engineer on the #54 NASCAR Xfinity Series working for NASCAR crew chief Chris Gayle and driver Kyle Bush where they went on to win 5 poles and 6 wins and lead 1000 laps during the 2015 season. [14] In 2016 Allen moved to the Joe Gibbs #18 team again with driver Kyle Busch where they won 9 poles, 10 wins and lead over 2,000 laps. [15] NASCAR drivers that also drove the #54 and #18 in 2015 and 2016 included Boris Said, Bobby Labonte, Denny Hamlin, David Ragan, Owen Kelly, Drew Herring, and Matt Tift.

On December 13, 2023, Joe Gibbs Racing announced that Allen would be promoted to crew chief on their Xfinity Series No. 20 car in 2024, primarily driven by John Hunter Nemechek and Aric Almirola. [16]

On October 16, 2024, JGR announced that Allen would be the crew chief for Taylor Gray in his rookie season in the Xfinity Series in 2025 in the No. 54 car. [17] However, on December 2, JGR instead announced that he would crew chief their No. 54 car in the Cup Series driven by Ty Gibbs in 2025, with Jason Ratcliff coming out of retirement to be Taylor Gray's crew chief in the Xfinity Series. [18]

NASCAR Cup Series

In 2017, Allen moved up to the Joe Gibbs Racing NASCAR Cup Series No. 18 team with crew chief Adam Stevens and 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion Kyle Busch where from 2017 to 2020 the team went on to win 13 poles and 19 wins including the NASCAR Championship in 2019. In 2021, Allen moved to the JGR No. 20 NASCAR Cup Series team as the lead race engineer for Stevens and driver Christopher Bell.

In December 2024, Allen was announced as the crew chief of the JGR No. 54 car, driven by Ty Gibbs, starting in 2025. [18]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Gibbs Racing</span> NASCAR racing team

Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is an American professional stock car racing organization founded by Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs. His son, J. D. Gibbs, ran the team with him until his death in 2019. Founded in Huntersville, North Carolina, in 1992, JGR has won five Cup Series championships, four Xfinity Series championships and one ARCA Series championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Addington</span> NASCAR crew chief

Steven J. Addington is an American NASCAR crew chief who works for RSS Racing as a crew chief in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. In 2024, he is primarily crew chiefing their No. 29 Ford Mustang driven by Blaine Perkins. He has won 20 NASCAR Cup Series races and 11 Xfinity Series races as a crew chief.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erik Jones</span> American racing driver (born 1996)

Erik Benjamin Jones is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 43 Toyota Camry XSE for Legacy Motor Club. His nicknames are EJ, his initials, and That Jones Boy, given to him by announcer Ken Squier. Until 2021, Jones had spent his entire NASCAR and ARCA career with Toyota, and while in their driver development program, he won the 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship. He would return to Toyota's NASCAR program in 2023 when Legacy Motor Club would switch their manufactural allegiance to them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series</span> 34th season of second-tier NASCAR Xfinity Series

The 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series was the 34th season of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the second-tier professional stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. It began with the Alert Today Florida 300 at Daytona International Speedway on February 21, and ended with the Ford EcoBoost 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 21. Chase Elliott entered the 2015 season as the defending series champion. Chris Buescher won the championship. The 2015 season marked two major changes; Comcast's cable brand Xfinity replaced Nationwide Insurance as title sponsor of the series, while Fox, Fox Sports 1, NBC and NBCSN broadcast the series' races, replacing the ESPN networks and ABC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brandon Jones (racing driver)</span> American racing driver (born 1997)

Brandon Alexander Phillip Jones is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing. He has also competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, ARCA Menards Series, and ARCA Menards Series East in the past.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Stevens (NASCAR)</span> American NASCAR crew chief (born 1978)

Adam Gregory Stevens is a NASCAR Cup Series crew chief for Christopher Bell since 2021. In 2015, he became the first crew chief since Jeff Hammond in 1982 to win the championship in his rookie season as the crew chief for Kyle Busch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series</span> 36th season of second-tier NASCAR Xfinity Series

The 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series was the 36th season of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the second-tier professional stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began with the PowerShares QQQ 300 at Daytona International Speedway and ended with the Ford EcoBoost 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Daniel Suárez was the defending drivers' champion while Toyota was the defending manufacturer's champion, although Suárez couldn't defend his title due to him racing in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series</span> 37th NASCAR Xfinity racing season

The 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series was the 37th season of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, a stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. William Byron won the 2017 championship with JR Motorsports, but moved up to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Tyler Reddick, who replaced Byron in the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro SS, won the drivers' championship. Stewart-Haas Racing with Biagi-DenBeste won the owners' championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kyle Benjamin</span> American racing driver (born 1997)

Kyle S. Benjamin is an American professional stock car racing driver. He most recently competed part-time in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, driving the No. 15 for LFR Chassis, and part-time in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series, driving the No. 44 and 45 Chevrolet Silverados for Niece Motorsports. Benjamin has also competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for Joe Gibbs Racing. He is a member of the 2015 NASCAR Next class and has formerly competed in the K&N Pro Series East with Ranier Racing with MDM. Benjamin became the youngest winner in the ARCA Racing Series in 2013 at 15 years, 9 months, and 22 days, and held the record until Todd Gilliland broke it in 2015, when his first ARCA win came at 15 years and 2 days.

Jeff Steven Meendering is an American NASCAR crew chief who works for Joe Gibbs Racing as the crew chief of their No. 81 Toyota Supra in the NASCAR Xfinity Series driven by Chandler Smith. He previously worked as an Xfinity Series crew chief for Stewart-Haas Racing, a Cup Series crew chief for Petty Enterprises and a car chief in the Cup Series for Hendrick Motorsports, SHR and JGR.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 ARCA Menards Series</span> 67th season of the ARCA Menards Series

The 2019 ARCA Menards Series was the 67th season of the ARCA Menards Series. Christian Eckes of Venturini Motorsports won the championship over teammate Michael Self. Eckes became the first champion since Tim Steele in 1997 to win the title after missing a race during the season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series</span> 40th season of second-tier NASCAR Xfinity Series

The 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series was the 40th season of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, a stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the Beef. It's What's for Dinner. 300 on February 13. The regular season ended with the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on September 17. The NASCAR playoffs ended with the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway on November 6.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Gabehart</span> NASCAR crew chief

Christopher Allen Gabehart is an American NASCAR crew chief and former stock car racing driver. He currently works for Joe Gibbs Racing as the crew chief for Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 Toyota Camry in the NASCAR Cup Series, a position he has held since 2019. He's previously worked for Gibbs as a crew chief in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for Brandon Jones, Erik Jones, Kyle Benjamin, and Ryan Preece. Before becoming an engineer and crew chief, Gabehart was a driver himself and won the CRA Super Series championship in 2007 and won the All American 400 in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series</span> 41st season of second-tier NASCAR Xfinity Series

The 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series was the 41st season of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, a stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season started with the Beef. It's What's for Dinner. 300 on February 19 at Daytona International Speedway and ended with the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race on November 5 at Phoenix Raceway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 ARCA Menards Series East</span> 35th season of the ARCA Menards Series East

The 2021 ARCA Menards Series East was the 35th season of the ARCA Menards Series East, a regional stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began on February 8 at New Smyrna Speedway with the Jeep Beach 175 and ended on September 16 at Bristol Motor Speedway with the Bush's Beans 200. Sammy Smith and Joe Gibbs Racing won the series championship. JGR's No. 18 car, driven by Smith and Ty Gibbs, won all but one race during the season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 ARCA Menards Series West</span> 68th season of the ARCA Menards Series West

The 2021 ARCA Menards Series West was the sixty-eighth season of the ARCA Menards Series West, a regional stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began at Phoenix Raceway with the General Tire 150 and ended with another race at Phoenix Raceway, the Arizona Lottery 100, on November 6.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 ARCA Menards Series</span> 70th season of the ARCA Menards Series

The 2022 ARCA Menards Series was the 70th season of the ARCA Menards Series, a stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the Lucas Oil 200 on February 19 and ended with the Shore Lunch 200 at Toledo Speedway on October 8.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sammy Smith</span> American racing driver (born 2004)

Samuel L. Smith is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports, and part-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado for Spire Motorsports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series</span> 42nd season of second-tier NASCAR Xfinity Series

The 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series was the 42nd season of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, a stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season started with the Beef. It's What's for Dinner. 300 on February 18 at Daytona International Speedway and ended with the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race on November 4 at Phoenix Raceway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2023 ARCA Menards Series East</span> 37th season of the ARCA Menards Series East

The 2023 ARCA Menards Series East was the 37th season of the ARCA Menards Series East, a regional stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began on March 25 with the Pensacola 200 at Five Flags Speedway and ended on September 14 with the Bush's Beans 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

References

  1. ↑ "E Class National Champions". Philkunzphotography.com. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  2. 1 2 Willits, Joel (22 July 2010). "Revving to go: Bellevue's Tyler Allen hopes for big break in racing career". Bellevuereporter.com. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  3. ↑ "Homad Gets Win Number One in 2000 at Wvso". Archived from the original on 2014-08-26. Retrieved 2014-08-23.
  4. ↑ "Image | the Daily". Archived from the original on 2014-08-26. Retrieved 2014-08-23.
  5. ↑ "Tyler Allen Eyeing Moriarity's Nascar Title at Evergreen Speedway". Archived from the original on 2014-08-26. Retrieved 2014-08-23.
  6. ↑ "Allen Racing". Allen Racing. Allenracing.com. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  7. ↑ "Tyler Allen Finishes Fifth in Richard Petty's Driver Search Ii". Archived from the original on 2014-08-26. Retrieved 2014-08-23.
  8. ↑ "Brown and Noffsinger Motorsports". Brown and Noffsinger Motorsports. Noffsigner. Archived from the original on 4 December 2013. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
  9. ↑ "5- Time ARCA Winner Brennan Poole Returns to series at Pocono Raceway". Arcaracing.com. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  10. ↑ "Alex Bowman Career". Racing-reference.info. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  11. ↑ "Tyler Allen Resume". Allen Racing. Allenracing.com. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  12. ↑ "Veteran crew chief Matt Lucas joins RAB racing". TeamRAB. RAB. Archived from the original on 6 November 2014. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  13. ↑ "Chris Rice joins NTS Motorsports in dual role". Nascar.com. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  14. ↑ "2017 Xfinity Series NASCAR Season Stats | Wins". www.foxsports.com. Retrieved 2017-10-08.
  15. ↑ "2016 Xfinity Series NASCAR Season Stats | Wins". www.foxsports.com. Retrieved 2017-10-08.
  16. ↑ "Sheldon Creed, Chandler Smith join Joe Gibbs Racing; Aric Almirola to run partial schedule". Jayski's Silly Season Site . NASCAR Digital Media. December 13, 2023. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
  17. ↑ "Taylor Gray joins Joe Gibbs Racing Xfinity Series lineup full-time in 2025". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 27, 2024.
  18. 1 2 "Tyler Allen named crew chief for Ty Gibbs". Jayski's Silly Season Site . NASCAR Digital Media. December 2, 2024. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.