Kevin John Meendering[1] (born March 17, 1981) is an American NASCAR crew chief who works for Hendrick Motorsports as the crew chief of their No. 17 Chevrolet Camaro in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, which is fielded part-time for Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman and William Byron.
 Meendering at Daytona International Speedway in 2019 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Kevin John Meendering |
| Born | March 17, 1981 Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of North Carolina |
| Occupation | Crew chief |
| Years active | 2008–present |
| Sport | |
| Country |  United States |
| Sport | Motor racing |
| League | NASCAR Xfinity Series |
| Team | 17. Hendrick Motorsports |
Racing career
edit2016–2018: JR Motorsports
editMeendering's first crew chief job came with JR Motorsports, who he worked for from 2016 to 2018 as the crew chief of their No. 1 Chevrolet driven by Elliott Sadler in the Xfinity Series.[2][3]
2019–present: Hendrick Motorsports
editOn October 10, 2018, it was announced that Hendrick Motorsports would split up the legendary driver/crew chief pair of Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus starting in 2019 after they had a dismal 2018 season. Meendering was announced as Johnson's new crew chief for 2019 and that Knaus would replace Darian Grubb (who moved into a technical director position for HMS) as the crew chief of Hendrick's No. 24 car driven by William Byron.[4] On July 29, 2019, following a string of disappointing finishes during the 2019 season, Hendrick Motorsports announced that the No. 48 car's engineer, Cliff Daniels, would replace Meendering as the crew chief of the No. 48. Meendering would be moved to a different unspecified role at Hendrick after he was relieved of his crew chief job.[5][6][7]
On June 2, 2022, Hendrick Motorsports announced that Meendering would return to crew chiefing for the first time since 2019 as he would be the crew chief of the team's new part-time Xfinity Series car, the No. 17.[8] On June 20, HMS announced that Meendering would also serve as the interim crew chief for Kyle Larson's No. 5 car in the Cup Series after Cliff Daniels was suspended for four races (Nashville, Road America, Atlanta in July and New Hampshire) due to the car losing a tire and wheel during the race at Sonoma.[9]
On March 8, 2023, Hendrick announced that Meendering would return to be the crew chief of their part-time Xfinity Series car, the No. 17, although this year he would share the job with Greg Ives, the former crew chief of their No. 48 car in the Cup Series.[10] On March 16, Hendrick announced that Meendering would return to be the interim crew chief of their Cup Series No. 5 car as Daniels was suspended again for four races after the team's L2 penalty for illegally modified hood louvers.[11]
Personal life
editMeendering's older brother, Jeff, is also a NASCAR crew chief. Jeff works for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series as the crew chief for their No. 18 car driven by Sammy Smith. The Meendering brothers are from Marne, Michigan.[12]
References
edit- ^ "Kevin J Meendering from Concord, NC". Radaris.com. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
- ^ "JR Motorsports". jrmracing.com. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
- ^ "Kevin Meendering on Elliott Sadler's Xfinity outlook before Kansas". NBC Sports. 17 October 2018. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
- ^ McFadin, Daniel (December 20, 2018). "Silly Season Scorecard: Go Fas Racing, Corey LaJoie news leaves one major ride open". Archived from the original on December 22, 2018. Retrieved December 21, 2018.
- ^ Spencer, Reid (July 29, 2019). "Hendrick Motorsports names Cliff Daniels as No. 48 crew chief". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
- ^ Wilhelm, Chase (July 29, 2019). "Jimmie Johnson on crew chief change: 'We have to act now'". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
- ^ Page, Scott (July 29, 2019). "Cliff Daniels named crew chief for Jimmie Johnson". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
- ^ "Hendrick Motorsports to enter three Xfinity Series races in 2022". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. June 2, 2022. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
- ^ "Kevin Meendering to serve as Kyle Larson's crew chief amid Daniels' suspension". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. June 20, 2022. Retrieved June 21, 2022.
- ^ Christie, Toby (March 8, 2023). "HendrickCars.com Sponsoring Four NASCAR Xfinity Races Between Larson, Byron and Bowman in 2023". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
- ^ Christie, Toby (March 16, 2023). "Hendrick Motorsports Names Interim Crew Chiefs for Atlanta". TobyChristie.com.
- ^ Kaminski, Steve (July 29, 2019). "West Michigan native out as Jimmie Johnson's crew chief". MLive. Advance Publications. Retrieved June 21, 2022.