Roush Fenway Racing has swapped the crew chief and road crews between its two NASCAR Cup Series teams — the #6 of driver Ryan Newman and the #17 team of Chris Buescher — ahead of Sunday’s running of the Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval. The swap does not include pit crews.
The crew chief pairs Scott Graves with Buescher and Luke Lambert with Newman with five races remaining in the 2021 season. Lambert and Newman have worked together before, as Lambert was Newman’s crew chief at Richard Childress Racing between 2014 and 2018. Together, the won once at Phoenix Raceway in 2017.
Both Newman and Buescher missed the playoffs this season. Newman has two top-fives and five top-10 finishes in the 31 races, so far, this season and is 26th in the driver points standings. Buescher has six top-10s, none of which are top-fives. He is 19th in the standings heading into Sunday’s race.
Buescher is expected to return to RFR in 2022, but Newman is not, as Brad Keselowski has bern announced as the driver of the #6 next season through a deal that includes partial ownership of RFR.
