Lance McGrew is a former crew chief for

Hendrick Motorsports Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) is an American professional auto racing organization that competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team was founded in 1984 as All Star Racing by Rick Hendrick. Hendrick Motorsports has won a NASCAR-record 291 Cup S ...

and currently works in their research and development division.

Early years

Lance McGrew’s passion for racing started when he just a kid growing up in

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the county seat, parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, E ...

, and attending local dirt track races with his father, Les. McGrew broadened his racing knowledge at

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 n ...

where he majored in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, ...

BACE Motorsports

McGrew moved to

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

in the early 1990s and joined the

BACE Motorsports BACE Motorsports was a championship-winning NASCAR team. It was owned by entrepreneur Bill Baumgardner, who also founded Staff America. Baumgardner was inspired to start his own team after Staff America was a sponsor in the Busch Series for two ye ...

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...

Busch Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

team driven by his future

teammate,

Jack Sprague Jack Sprague (born August 8, 1964) is an American former stock car racing driver who has competed in all of NASCAR's three top divisions, most notably in the Craftsman Truck Series, where he won series championships in 1997, 1999 and 2001. Raci ...

. McGrew started by doing basic tasks such as sweeping the floors and washing the team transporter.

Hendrick Motorsports

In 1999, McGrew joined

as a crew member of the #24

team with driver

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...

. In 2000, McGrew was named the Nationwide Series crew chief for the #24 Chevrolet, shared by Jeff Gordon and Ricky Hendrick during a limited schedule. Gordon captured the season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, giving McGrew his first career win as a crew chief. McGrew and Ricky Hendrick developed a good relationship during the 2000 season, and the duo was paired up again – this time for a full season in the

Craftsman Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

. McGrew guided Hendrick and the No. 17 team to a win at

Kansas Speedway Kansas Speedway is a tri-oval race track in the Village West area near Kansas City, Kansas, United States. It was built in 2001 and it currently hosts two annual NASCAR race weekends. The IndyCar Series also held races at the venue until 20 ...

in July of that year, making Hendrick, then 21, the youngest competitor in history to win a Truck Series event at the time. McGrew led the team to one win, eight top-five finishes and 19 top-10s. In 2002, McGrew moved from the Truck Series to the Busch Series and became the crew chief for the #5 Hendrick Motorsports

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ou ...

, which was to be driven by Hendrick. The team collected four top-five finishes and eight top-10s. McGrew led Brian Vickers and the #5 Hendrick Motorsports team to win the

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

Busch Series championship. The title was the first-ever in the Busch Series for Hendrick Motorsports. The #5 team finished the season with three wins, one pole position, 13 top-five finishes and 21 top-10s. McGrew’s Busch Series success as crew chief continued in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

with

Kyle Busch Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and part-tim ...

, who drove the #5 Chevy full-time for Hendrick Motorsports. The team ended the season with five wins, five poles, 16 top-five finishes and 22 top-10s en route to a second-place finish in the championship standings. Busch won Rookie of the Year honors. At the end of the 2004 season, McGrew was named crew chief of the #25 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, which was driven by Vickers in the

Nextel Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971 ...

. McGrew helped lead the #25 Hendrick Motorsports team to its best season since

. The team finished 17th in the

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

championship standings with five top-five finishes and 10 top-10s. In

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

, McGrew and the #25 team improved on their previous Cup season by recording a 15th-place finish in the championship standings with one win, one pole, five top-five finishes and nine top-10s. In 2007, McGrew transitioned into a new role at Hendrick Motorsports. McGrew became the crew chief for Hendrick Motorsports research and development team, which played a major role in the organization’s development of its Impala SS. In addition to his duties as crew chief for Hendrick Motorsports R&D team, McGrew filled in as crew chief for the #5

JR Motorsports JR Motorsports (pronounced "Junior Motorsports") is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, CARS Tour, and occasionally in the NASCAR Advance Auto Pa ...

team in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

for six Nationwide Series races. In those six races, McGrew was able to guide the #5 team to Victory Lane at

Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas Motor Speedway, located in Clark County, Nevada in Las Vegas, Nevada about 15 miles northeast of the Las Vegas Strip, is a complex of multiple tracks for motorsports racing. The complex is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which is ...

in March with veteran

Mark Martin Mark Anthony Martin (born January 9, 1959) is a retired American 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 s ...

. Later in the

season, McGrew once again played the crew chief role. This time it was for the young, up-and-coming driver

Brad Keselowski Bradley Aaron Keselowski (; born February 12, 1984) is an American professional stock car racing driver, team owner, and entrepreneur. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 6 Ford Mustang for RFK Racing, a team he also ...

, who made his first two career Sprint Cup Series starts in the #25 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy. In 2009, McGrew won the

Nationwide Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

season opening Camping World 300 at

Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR as well as its season opening event. In addition to NASC ...

as Tony Stewart's crew chief on the #80 Chevrolet. He then continued as crew chief of Brad Keselowski's cup car. In his last race working with Keselowski, he earned a seventh-place finish in the

Southern 500 The Southern 500, officially known as the Cook Out Southern 500 for sponsorship reasons, is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, United States. The race distance is and consists of 367 laps. Fro ...

Darlington Raceway Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located in Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is ...

. On May 28, 2009, it was announce he would replace Tony Eury Jr. as crew chief on an interim basis for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Earnhardt Jr. finished twelfth at Dover. On October 30, 2009, McGrew was selected as Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s full-time crew chief for the

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

season. In July 2011, Hendrick Motorsports announced that

Kenny Francis Kenneth Francis (born December 1, 1969) is an American NASCAR crew chief. He began his racing career at the age of eight, racing go-karts. He continued to drive the race car until 1996 when he began working on engines for Butch Mock Motorsports ...

would replace him as crew chief for the No. 5 car, as McGrew moves to K&N East to crew chief driver Chase Elliott.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGrew, Lance Living people 1967 births Sportspeople from Baton Rouge, Louisiana NASCAR crew chiefs