Drew Blickensderfer
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Philip Andrew "Blick" Blickensderfer (born November 12, 1976) is an American
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. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...
crew chief who is currently employed at
Front Row Motorsports Front Row Motorsports (FRM) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The team began running part-time in 2004 as Means-Jenkins Motorsports under a part ...
as the crew chief for the No. 4
Ford Mustang The Ford Mustang is a series of American Car, automobiles manufactured by Ford Motor Company, Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate. Currently in its Ford Mustang (seventh ...
driven by
Noah Gragson Noah Quinn Gragson (born July 15, 1998) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 4 Ford Mustang (seventh generation), Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Front Row Motorsports. R ...
. He is a two-time
Daytona 500 The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of three ...
-winning crew chief, having won it with
Front Row Motorsports Front Row Motorsports (FRM) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The team began running part-time in 2004 as Means-Jenkins Motorsports under a part ...
and Michael McDowell in
2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...
as well as with
Roush Fenway Racing 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 ...
and
Matt Kenseth Matthew Roy Kenseth (born March 10, 1972) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and the current competition advisor for Legacy Motor Club in the NASCAR Cup Series. Most recently, he raced part-time in the Superstar Racing Exper ...
in
2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
.


Racing career

Blickensderfer became interested in racing from his uncle and grandfather. Blickensderfer began going to local drag strips to help drivers prepare their cars. He purchased a modified to race, but soon quit racing the car. "I really didn't want to be in the car," Blickensderfer said. "I think everybody has aspirations when they get in the sport of being a race car driver. I wanted to be a crew chief, make the calls, prepare the cars." After moving to North Carolina, Blickensderfer started as the rear tire change pit crew member and mechanic for Dale Earnhardt, Inc.'s No. 1 car. He later joined
Bill Davis Racing Bill Davis Racing was a racing team that participated in all three of NASCAR's top divisions until 2009. The team had run Toyota-branded stock cars and trucks in the Camping World Truck Series (Toyota Tundra) since 2004 and Sprint Cup Series ( T ...
before joining
Roush Racing 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 ...
in 2003 as crew member on the No. 60 car in the
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 ...
and later
Mark Martin Mark Anthony Martin (born January 9, 1959), nicknamed "the Kid", is an American former stock car racing driver. He most notably drove the No. 6 Ford Motor Company, Ford for Roush Racing for the majority of his career. From 1989 to 2009, Martin wo ...
's No. 6 Cup car. In 2007 he became the crew chief for the No. 17 Busch Series car and the combination had three wins during their Busch Series days. During the middle of the 2008 season, he became
Carl Edwards Carl Michael Edwards Jr. (born August 15, 1979) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and a current analyst for ''NASCAR on Prime Video''. He last competed in the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving the No ...
' crew chief in the Nationwide Series, the new name for the former Busch Series. Edwards gave Blickenderfer complete control of the car adjustments. "He gave me free rein to do whatever I want,: Blickensderfer said. "When we started having some success, the ball of momentum kept getting bigger and bigger and everybody bought into the system." Blickensderfer took over crew chief duties for the No. 17 car in Sprint Cup, driven by Matt Kenseth, in December 2008 after Chip Bolin returned to be the team engineer. He won in his first race as a Sprint Cup crew chief in the
2009 Daytona 500 The 2009 Daytona 500, the 51st running of the event, was held on February 15, 2009, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida as the first points-paying race of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season and the last 500 of the 2000s ...
on February 15, 2009. He followed up with his second win at
California Speedway Auto Club Speedway (known as California Speedway before and after the 2008–2023 corporate sponsorship by the Automobile Club of Southern California) was a , D-shaped oval superspeedway in unincorporated San Bernardino County, California, ne ...
in the following week which earned him the nickname "Mr. Perfect". The back to back wins to start the season made Kenseth the fifth driver to start a NASCAR season with two wins, the others being
Marvin Panch Marvin Emil Panch (May 28, 1926December 31, 2015) was an American stock car racing driver. Winner of the 1961 Daytona 500 and 1966 World 600, he won seventeen NASCAR Grand National Series events during a 17-year career. Early career Born in ...
(1957),
Bob Welborn Robert "Bob" Joe Welborn (May 5, 1928 – August 10, 1997) of Denton, North Carolina, Denton was a NASCAR Grand National Series driver. He was named to NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers list in 1998. He won the final three NASCAR Convertible Division ...
(1959),
David Pearson David or Dave Pearson may refer to: * David Pearson (librarian) (born 1955), British librarian and scholar * David Pearson (racing driver) (1934–2018), American car racing champion * David Pearson (geologist) (born 1942), Canadian scientist, acad ...
(1976), and
Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American stock car racing executive and former professional stock car racing driver who currently serves as the vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, d ...
(1997). He started out the 2010 NASCAR season as Kenseth's crew chief for the
Daytona 500 The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of three ...
, but was reassigned to Roush Fenway's research and development team after the race. He was replaced by Todd Parrott, who had been
Dale Jarrett Dale Arnold Jarrett (born November 26, 1956) is an American former race car driver and current racing commentator for NBC. He is best known for winning the Daytona 500 three times (in 1993, 1996, and 2000) and winning the NASCAR Winston Cup Series ...
's championship-winning crew chief in 1999. He spent most of the 2010 season as crew chief for Carl Edward’s Nationwide Series No. 60 team. However he replaced Donnie Wingo as crew chief for the No. 6 Ford Fusion in September 2010 and into the 2011 season. He almost won the Daytona 500 again as a crew chief with
David Ragan David Lee Ragan (born December 24, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 60 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for RFK Racing, and is also an analyst for NASCAR on ...
and went on to win with Ragan at the 2011 Coke Zero 400, collecting his third win as a Sprint Cup Series crew chief. Blickensderfer moved to
Richard Childress Racing Richard Childress Racing (RCR) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team is based in Welcome, North Carolina, and is owned and operated by Richard C ...
in 2012 to be the crew chief for
Jeff Burton Jeffrey Tyler Burton (born June 29, 1967), 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 23 career victories in the NASCAR ...
. However, after the organization struggled as a whole, he resigned from the position after the
TUMS Fast Relief 500 The Xfinity 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia. The race is traditionally held in the fall and has been run in every NASCAR Cup Series season, starting with the sixth event in the inaug ...
, heading to
Richard Petty Motorsports Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) ...
to crew chief for
Marcos Ambrose Marcos Ross Ambrose (born 1 September 1976) is an Australian former racing driver and current Garry Rogers Motorsport competition director. He won the Australian V8 Supercar series' championship in 2003 V8 Supercar Championship Series, 2003 and ...
for the remainder of the season as well as 2013. Blickensderfer was replaced by
Shane Wilson Shane Wilson is a sculptor who has lived and worked in Yukon and British Columbia, Canada. His principal mediums are antler, horn, ivory, and bronze, from which he creates sculpture in his signature style, a juxtaposition of abstract organic and ...
as Burton's crew chief. Blickensderfer was replaced by
Kevin Manion Kevin Raymond Manion (born June 24, 1972), nicknamed Bono, is an American NASCAR crew chief for Spire Motorsports in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. He is a two-time consecutive NASCAR Xfinity Series championship-winning crew chief and the 2 ...
as crew chief of the No. 9 on May 5, 2015. He was a crew chief for
Jeb Burton John Edward "Jeb" Burton IV (born August 6, 1992) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 27 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation), Chevrolet SS for Jordan Anderson Ra ...
in the
Xfinity 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 ...
before
Richard Petty Motorsports Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) ...
ceased its Xfinity operations in the middle of the 2016 season. Blickensderfer recently served as the crew chief for Michael McDowell in the Cup Series. On February 14, 2021, Blickensderfer won his second Daytona 500 as crew chief for Michael McDowell. On December 17, 2021, FRM announced that Blickensderfer had left the team. On January 4, 2022, Blickensderfer was introduced as the crew chief for the
Stewart–Haas Racing Stewart–Haas Racing was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in both the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team was co-owned by three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, founder ...
No. 10 Ford driven by
Aric Almirola Aric Michael Almirola (born March 14, 1984) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota GR Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing. Almirola previously compete ...
. On December 13, it was announced that Blickensderfer will continue serving as the crew chief of the No. 10 in 2024, with
Noah Gragson Noah Quinn Gragson (born July 15, 1998) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 4 Ford Mustang (seventh generation), Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Front Row Motorsports. R ...
replacing Almirola, who departed for a part-time ride driving the No. 20 for
Joe Gibbs Racing 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 the Xfinity Series. On December 16, 2024, it was announced that Blickenderfer will return to FRM as the crew chief of the No. 4 car, driven by Gragson.


Personal life

Blickensderfer was born in
Mount Zion, Illinois Mount Zion is a village in Macon County, Illinois, United States. The population was 6,019 at the 2020 census. Geography Mount Zion is located in southeastern Macon County at (39.777967, -88.878614). It is bordered to the northwest by the c ...
, the son of a high school basketball coach and neighbor of former Mt. Zion Classmate Justin Denton. He was a wrestler in high school and attended the
University of Indiana Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IU Indianapolis. The flagship campus of In ...
as a walk on. He had two surgeries during his first year of college and decided to change to
Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Third ...
college
Millikin University Millikin University is a private university in Decatur, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1901 by prominent Decatur businessman James Millikin and is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). History Millikin was initially esta ...
, where he became a highly ranked wrestler in the lowest division of college sports. On December 31, 2018, he married Lori Michaels, the former Chief Digital Officer of The Economist Group. He is nicknamed "Blick", because he says, "people just call me Blick, it's just a lot easier."


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blickensderfer, Drew Living people NASCAR crew chiefs People from Mount Zion, Illinois 1976 births