How to Become a Winning Crew Chief

In the world of big-league NASCAR racing, drivers routinely push themselves and their machines to the absolute limits. Nothing can be left to chance—the car, the driver, the crew, and certainly not the team’s leader, the crew chief. At this level, races are often decided by thousandths of a second, and the competition is so fierce that accomplished race teams can go years between victories. That’s what makes Larry McReynolds’s success as a NASCAR Nextel Cup crew chief so astounding. In the pressure-cooker environment of NASCAR Nextel Cup racing, knowledge and experience are held tightly and rarely revealed. Until now. For the first time, one of NASCAR’s most successful, best-known crew chiefs shares his secrets for running a successful, winning team. Larry holds nothing back—it’s all here, including organization, car preparation, race-day strategies, and even Larry’s own setup checklists, right out of his notebooks. Larry covers a wide range of topics and tells you everything you need to know to get yourself and your team from the shop to the track, prepared and ready to race. These elements include: Setting up a shop and establishing a crew; safety systems; stringing your race car; understanding camber, caster, and kingpin angle; tuning with springs, shocks, and sway bars; understanding wheelbase, track, toe, and ackerman; understanding ride height, weight, and cross weight; chassis geometry; finding the right setup and preparing your car for the track; brakes; aerodynamics; gears and gear selection; and testing. Then Larry takes you to the next level in finely tuned chapters that concentrate on racecraft with tips for qualifying, developing race strategies, and diagnosing and solving a myriad of problems during a race, particularly those with handling. Larry even provides recommendations for post-race checks and efficient weekly maintenance.