Ben Beshore will replace Adam Stevens as Kyle Busch’s crew chief on the #18 Joe Gibbs Racing team in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2021. The change is part of a JGR tweaking of its crew chief lineups in both the Cup and NASCAR Xfinity series. Beshore moves up to Cup from JGR’s Xfinity Series program.
Stevens will move to the #20 team at JGR, also in the Cup Series, to replace Chris Gayle as crew chief for Christopher Bell. Bell also will be new to that team, as he moves from the now-closed Leavine Family Racing to replace Erik Jones within JGR’s Cup Series program.
Gayle will move to the Xfinity Series to crew chief a new Gibbs entry in that series, a #54 that will have multiple drivers behind the wheel throughout the 2021 season.
“We go through a process at the conclusion of every season that includes evaluating each of our teams,” team owner Joe Gibbs said. “We believe our crew chief lineup for 2021 will best position each team and driver for success across both series. We take a lot of pride in our depth of talent across our entire organization. All of our crew chiefs are proven winners. We are also looking forward to bringing the No. 54 Toyota Supra back to the track in 2021 with an exciting team of drivers.”
JGR’s other two Cup Series teams — the #11 of driver Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr.’s #19 team — will keep their crew chiefs from 2020 next season. Chris Gabehart will continue as Hamlin’s crew chief, while James Small will enter season two as Truex’s crew chief.
The pairing of Gabehart and Hamlin was the most successful at Gibbs last season with seven wins and playoff survival to the final round, or round of four.
Jason Ratcliff will be crew chief on JGR’s #20 Xfinity Series team for driver Harrison Burton. Also in the Xfinity Series, Dave Rogers will be crew chief on the #18 team of Daniel Hemric. The 2021 season will be Hemric’s first with JGR after moving to Gibbs from a part-time gig with JR Motorsports in 2020.
Jeff Meendering will remain with JGR’s #19 Xfinity Series team with driver Brandon Jones.
