Ricky Stenhouse Jr., NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ 2013 Sunoco Rookie of the Year, will reunite with crew chief Mike Kelley on the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford team. Stenhouse and Kelley combined to win NASCAR Nationwide Series championships in 2011-12.
Kelley served as Trevor Bayne’s crew chief in the NASCAR Nationwide Series this past season. Bayne finished sixth in series standings with a victory at Iowa Speedway among 21 top-10 finishes. Kelley is a longtime RFR employee and served as car chief for Kurt Busch’s No. 97 team that won the 2004 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.
“It’s really exciting to team back up with Mike,” Stenhouse said. “Obviously we have a great chemistry and we have had a great deal of success in the past.”
Kelley succeeds Scott Graves with the No. 17 team. Graves moves to RFR’s No. 60 NNS team with driver Chris Buescher. Veteran crew chief Chad Norris will take the helm of Bayne’s No. 6 Ford. Seth Barbour was named crew chief for the No. 16 NNS Ford being driven full time in 2014 by Ryan Reed.
“As with any season, we always sit down at the end of the year and evaluate where we are, what we have and what we think are the best options to put our teams in the best positions to compete for wins and championships,” said team owner Jack Roush.
RFR’s remaining two NASCAR Sprint Cup crew chiefs are unchanged for 2014: Matt Puccia with Greg Biffle’s No. 16 team and Jimmy Fennig with Carl Edwards’ No. 99 team.
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