The pit world at Roush Fenway Racing looks a whole lot different than a year ago this time. New coach Scott Bowan took over towards the end of last year and is making moves within the teams to help improve performance and pick up time.
With the closure of the #16 team from the RFR stables there was a group of 18 crewmen fighting for a total of 12 spots. RFR did their best to find out what the new teams would look like and this is what they came up with.
It appears that the only returning #6 car pit crew members from last year will be front changer Kale Uphoff and gasman Josh Pech. New to the #6 crew will be front carrier Ryan McCray (moving over from the #17), jackman Mike Brown (moving over from the #17), rear changer Chris Schuman (moving over from Richard Petty Motorsports), and rear carrier Justin Edgell (moving over from the #16).
As far as the #17 car goes, it look like this: Front changer Mike Lingerfelt will be the lone returner on the crew. Rear changer Jon Moore is back from injury and will return to the rear as well. The front carrier position will be Kevin Richards (moving over from the Front Row Motorsports #34), jack man will be Sean Meckelson (moving over from the #16), the rear carrier will be Brad Sutton (moving over from the #6), and gassing the car will be Kevin Wing (moving over from the #16).
So as you can see there’s a lot of moving around, but most of it comes from crewman already within the RFR athletic department. These teams are loaded with veteran crewman and guys that know how to get the job done. Good luck to both RFR pit crews and teams this year.
WOMR is looking forward to watching the realignment and its effectiveness for RFR this season.
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!