NASCAR crew chief
Kevin Raymond Manion
(born June 24, 1972), nicknamed
Bono
, is an American
NASCAR
crew chief
for
Rev Racing
in the
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
. He is a two-time consecutive
NASCAR Xfinity Series
championship-winning crew chief and the
2010 Daytona 500
and
2010 Brickyard 400
-winning crew chief.
Early life
[
edit
]
Manion was born in
Boylston, Massachusetts
. He helped Bobby Fuller in the NASCAR Winston
Modified
Series at the age of 14. His first job was cleaning the car plus general mechanic work. Eventually he was promoted to tire changer. Between 1988 and 1992 he worked as a crew chief for Chris Woods on Late Models at Riverside Park in
Agawam, Massachusetts
.
[1]
Manion became the crew chief at Sheba Racing in Hudson, Massachusetts in 1993. His team worked a Modified car for
Jeff Fuller
and
Steve Park
.
Tommy Baldwin
became the crew chief in 1993 and Manion became his main man. Steve Park, the team's driver, missed the 1993 championship by just three points.
[1]
NASCAR career
[
edit
]
In 1995, Manion and friend Tommy Baldwin, moved to North Carolina to further their racing career landing the job of general mechanics for the 41 car of Larry Hedrick Motorsports. The team had
Ricky Craven
as the driver and a crew chief of Charley Pressley. During this time, Manion and Baldwin shared a house and were later, in 1997, joined by Steve Park. Park's move coincided with his becoming the driver of the No. 3
Nationwide Series
car owned by
Dale
and Teresa Earnhardt. Manion would join
Dale Earnhardt Inc.
shortly after Park's move.
[1]
Manion became the crew chief of the No. 1 Chevrolet in Sprint Cup but later he was specially selected by
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
and
Teresa Earnhardt
to head the newly formed
Chance 2 Motorsports
team in the Busch Series. That team proceeded to win two championships, 12 victories with
Martin Truex Jr.
and three with Earnhardt Jr. Manion went on to receive the Crew Chief of the Year award.
[1]
In 2006, Manion began leading the No. 1 team in the Cup Series. In 2007, with Truex driving, the team claimed their first Pole Award, seven top-five finishes, 14 top-10s and their first Cup win at
Dover International Speedway
. The win secured Manion's team in the 2007 Chase for the Cup, eventually finishing 11th in points. The team finished 15th in the points for the 2008 season with three top-five finishes and 11 top-10s.
[1]
When Truex left for
Michael Waltrip Racing
in 2010,
Jamie McMurray
replaced him as the driver of the
Earnhardt Ganassi Racing
No. 1 car (DEI had merged with
Chip Ganassi Racing
in 2009) and Manion remained the crew chief. He and McMurray won the
2010 Daytona 500
and the
2010 Brickyard 400
together.
In 2011, Manion fielded a
Whelen Modified Tour
car for
Ryan Newman
to run at
New Hampshire International Speedway
. Newman won the race, but the car's intake manifold did not conform to NASCAR specification. Newman was later stripped of his win. Manion and crew chief Mike LaRochelle were suspended from NASCAR regional touring series events for the remainder of 2011.
[2]
The win was awarded to Modified Series staple
Todd Szegedy
.
Manion later joined
Tommy Baldwin Racing
, working with
Alex Bowman
's No. 7, though on May 5, 2015, he joined
Richard Petty Motorsports
as
Sam Hornish Jr.
's crew chief on the No. 9.
[3]
On December 10, Manion announced that he had left RPM.
[4]
On January 6, 2016, it was announced Manion would become crew chief for a
Kyle Busch Motorsports
truck shared by
Daniel Suarez
and
Cody Coughlin
in the
Camping World Truck Series
.
[5]
Manion served as the crew chief for
DGR-Crosley
's No. 54 truck in 2018, which was fielded for
Bo LeMastus
,
Justin Marks
,
Kyle Benjamin
, and
Chris Eggleston
. In 2019, he worked with DGR-Crosley's
Tyler Ankrum
and the No. 17 team as they qualified for the Truck Series playoffs.
[6]
In 2020, he moved to
GMS Racing
to become crew chief for
Zane Smith
on the No. 21. The team change also reunited him with Ankrum, who joined GMS' No. 26.
[7]
Smith and Manion both returned for a second year in 2021 and won at Martinsville in October to clinch a spot in the Championship 4, where they would finish second in the standings.
On November 23, 2021, it was announced that Manion would be leaving GMS to be the crew chief for
Spire Motorsports
in their expansion into the Truck Series.
[8]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
"Kevin Manion"
. The Crew Chief Club. Archived from
the original
on 2011-01-31
. Retrieved
2011-01-17
.
- ^
"Car No. 7 Whelen Modified Tour Team Penalized For Rules Violations At NHMS"
. Archived from
the original
on 2011-07-24
. Retrieved
2011-07-20
.
- ^
Ryan, Nate (May 5, 2015).
"Kevin Manion named Sam Hornish Jr.'s crew chief, replacing Drew Blickensderfer"
.
NBC Sports
. Retrieved
May 5,
2015
.
- ^
Spencer, Lee (December 11, 2015).
"Kevin "Bono" Manion and Richard Petty Motorsports part ways"
.
Motorsport.com
. Retrieved
December 12,
2015
.
- ^
"Addition of Manion Completes KBM Crew Chief Lineup for 2016"
. Kyle Busch Motorsports. January 6, 2016
. Retrieved
January 6,
2016
.
[
permanent dead link
]
- ^
"Ankrum Set to Make Superspeedway Debut in NASCAR Playoffs"
.
DGR-Crosley
. October 8, 2019
. Retrieved
December 13,
2019
.
- ^
McFadin, Daniel (December 13, 2019).
"GMS Racing reveals full-time driver-crew chief lineup, number assignments"
.
NBC Sports
. Retrieved
December 13,
2019
.
- ^
"Spire Motorsports to Field Truck Series Team in 2022"
.
Jayski's Silly Season Site
. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. November 23, 2021
. Retrieved
November 24,
2021
.
External links
[
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]