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Tag: Matt Swiderski

  • Matt Swiderski to call 100th Cup event as crew chief at Indianapolis

    Matt Swiderski to call 100th Cup event as crew chief at Indianapolis

    In his fourth season as a crew chief in the NASCAR Cup Series and first paired with Daniel Suarez and Trackhouse Racing, Matt Swiderski is primed to reach a milestone feat. By participating in this weekend’s return of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Swiderski will call his 100th career event as a crew chief in NASCAR’s premier series.

    Swiderski, a Chicago native who earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering at Kettering University and a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University, spent the early portions of his career as a data acquisition and race engineer for Richard Childress Racing across the Xfinity and Cup Series divisions before becoming a loads engineer for SpaceX in 2012. Returning to NASCAR eight months later and reuniting with Richard Childress Racing, where he became a chief race engineer before working his way up to being the head of vehicle performance.

    In 2017, Swiderski made his inaugural presence as a crew chief in the Xfinity Series, where he worked atop the pit box of RCR’s No. 3 Chevrolet team piloted between Ty Dillon, Scott Lagasse Jr. and Brian Scott throughout the season, with the entry recording 18 top-10 results and finishing in 11th place in the owner’s standings. He then spent the following three seasons as a part-time Xfinity crew chief for Team Penske, where he worked with Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Paul Menard, before working as Ty Dillon’s crew chief for two events in 2021.

    During the 2021 season, Swiderski made his inaugural presence as a crew chief in the Cup Series as he joined forces with Kaulig Racing to lead the team’s No. 16 Chevrolet entry on a part-time basis that was split between AJ Allmendinger, Justin Haley and Kaz Grala.

    After leading the No. 16 team to three top-seven results during the entry’s first five starts between February and June, Swiderski achieved his first NASCAR career victory as a crew chief during the Cup Series’ inaugural event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in August after Allmendinger capitalized on an overtime shootout to achieve his second Cup career win and the first for Kaulig Racing in NASCAR’s premier series. The No. 16 Kaulig entry would end up finishing no higher than 20th in its final three starts between mid-August to October.

    The following season, Kaulig Racing’s No. 16 entry led by Swiderski became a full-time Cup Series entry as Allmendinger, Noah Gragson and Daniel Hemric took turns splitting the entry. During the season, Swiderski was suspended for four events throughout May, including the non-points All-Star Race, due to a loose wheel that came unattached at Dover Motor Speedway in early May. In the remaining 33 points-paying events, Swiderski led the No. 16 entry to a total of three top-five results and nine top-10 results, including a season-best runner-up result at Watkins Glen International in August, before the team settled in 26th place in the final owner’s standings.

    In 2023, Swiderski was paired with Allmendinger on a full-time basis as Allmendinger became a full-time competitor of Kaulig’s No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the Cup Series. Despite commencing the season with a sixth-place result during the 65th running of the Daytona 500, the duo would proceed to finish in the top five twice and rack up two additional top-10 results throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, but they fell short of making the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs.

    Then after finishing no higher than 13th during the first five Playoff events, Swiderski and Allmendinger made triumphant returns to Victory Lane at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course after Allmendinger led a race-high 46 of 109 laps en route to his third Cup career win and the second for Kaulig Racing. Managing a single top-five finish during the final four events on the schedule, Allmendinger settled in 21st place in the final driver’s standings.

    In early January 2024, Kaulig Racing and Trackhouse Racing engaged in a crew chief swap that resulted in Swiderski replacing Travis Mack to serve as the crew chief for Daniel Suarez and the No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team while Mack took over Swiderski’s role as crew chief for Kaulig’s No. 16 Cup team. After ending up in 34th place due to crashing out of the 66th running of the Daytona 500, the new duo of Swiderski and Suarez emerged victorious during the following event at Atlanta Motor Speedway when Suarez edged the reigning champion Ryan Blaney and two-time champion Kyle Busch in a three-wide finish to snap a 57-race winless drought and record both a second Cup victory for himself and the third for Swiderski.

    Despite recording only three top-10 runs through 21 scheduled events of the 2024 season, Swiderski and Suarez, both of whom are in 17th place in the regular-season standings, are currently guaranteed a spot into the Playoffs based on the Atlanta victory.

    Through 99 previous Cup events, Swiderski has achieved three victories, 11 top-five results and 23 top-10 results while working with six different competitors.

    Matt Swiderski is scheduled to call his 100th Cup Series event as a crew chief at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the return of the Brickyard 400. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, July 21, and air at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

  • Matt Swiderski named crew chief for Daniel Suarez for the 2024 Cup Series season

    Matt Swiderski named crew chief for Daniel Suarez for the 2024 Cup Series season

    Matt Swiderski will be replacing Travis Mack as the crew chief for Daniel Suarez and the No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.

    The news comes as the Chicago native is coming off his third season as a Cup Series crew chief for Kaulig Racing’s No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry. During the three-year stint, Swiderski achieved victories with veteran AJ Allmendinger at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in August 2021 and at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course last October. During the previous season, he also led Allmendinger and the No. 16 team to a total of four top-five results and seven top-10 results before settling in 21st place in the final driver’s standings.

    “Everyone sees what Trackhouse Racing is building and I am thankful for the opportunity to come to a winning organization and lead the No. 99 team,” Swiderski said. “I am looking forward to working with Daniel. We are both striving to achieve the same thing, winning. Every day we are going to work on perfecting the next steps that it takes to get more wins and compete for a championship.”

    Swiderski, who received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Kettering University before attaining a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University, spent the bulk of his early racing career at Richard Childress Racing, where he first worked as a data acquisition engineer before ascending towards becoming a race engineer both on the Xfinity and Cup Series divisions. After briefly departing NASCAR to join Space Exploration Technologies as a loads engineer in 2012, he returned to both NASCAR and Richard Childress Racing eight months later by assuming the title of chief race engineer, where he would eventually be named head of vehicle performance in 2014.

    In 2017, Swiderski made his inaugural presence as a crew chief in the Xfinity Series, where he worked atop the pit box of RCR’s No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro entry that was piloted between Ty Dillon, Scott Lagasse Jr. and Brian Scott. Throughout the season, the No. 3 entry obtained four top-five results and 18 top-10 results before ending up in 11th place in the final owner’s standings. The following season, Swiderski joined Team Penske and worked as a crew chief for the team’s No. 12 Ford Mustang entry that was competing on a limited basis with rookie Austin Cindric and Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski, with the trio achieving a single top-five result and a combined five top-10 results in eight starts. Swiderski would lead the No. 12 team to a combined five top-five results and three poles in eight races, with the entry split between Ryan Blaney, Keselowski, Joey Logano and Paul Menard, before serving as Keselowski’s Xfinity crew chief for a single event in 2020 and two for Ty Dillon in 2021.

    During the 2021 season, Swiderski joined Kaulig Racing as a crew chief for the team’s No. 16 entry in the Cup Series that was split between AJ Allmendinger, Kaz Grala and Justin Haley. He would remain as the crew chief for the No. 16 entry for the 2022 Cup season that was split between Allmendinger, Noah Gragson and Daniel Hemric before Allmendinger assumed the ride on a full-time basis in 2023.

    Through 78 appearances as a Cup Series crew chief, Swiderski has achieved two victories, nine top-five results and 20 top-10 results while working with five different competitors.

    The 2024 Cup Series season will mark Swiderski’s first at Trackhouse Racing and first being paired with Suarez. The 32-year-old Suarez from Monterrey, Mexico, is coming off his seventh full-time campaign in the Cup circuit and third with Trackhouse, where he recorded a pole position at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, three top-five results, 10 top-10 results, 48 laps led and an average-finishing result of 19.0 before settling in 19th place in the 2023 driver’s standings. His first and latest victory to date occurred at Sonoma Raceway in June 2022, a victory that enabled him to make the 2022 Playoffs before settling in 10th place in the final driver’s standings.

    “Matt is a proven winner with a dynamic engineering background, and we are confident he will pair well with Daniel,” Justin Marks, Trackhouse founder and owner, added.

    Matt Swiderski’s first Cup Series campaign as a crew chief for Daniel Suarez and Trackhouse Racing commences with the Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on February 4, with the event’s coverage to occur at 8 p.m. ET on FOX, followed by the 66th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway that will occur on February 18, with the event’s coverage to occur at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.