On Tuesday, Petty GMS announced that the two-car operation will be making multiple personnel changes throughout the remaining eight races of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, starting Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Effective immediately, Chad Norris – who has served as Competition Director for GMS Racing over the last two years – will serve as interim crew chief of Ty Dillon’s No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro in the NASCAR Cup Series, replacing first-year crew chief Jerame Donley.
Norris’ experience as a crew chief in NASCAR’s top-three series dates back to 2005 and includes four victories in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, as well as one victory in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
Most recently, Norris has served as crew chief of McAnally-Hilgemann Racing’s No. 35 Chevrolet Silverado in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, which runs a partial schedule with Jake Garcia.
“This year has been a growing year at Petty GMS,” said Joey Cohen, Director of Competition and Engineering for Petty GMS. “When the merger happened late last year, we knew it would be tough to come out of the box and win, but also know that to win and be competitive every week, it takes the right people.”
In the team’s maiden season of competition in the NASCAR Cup Series, Petty GMS has collected three top-five and 11 top-10 results, including the victory in the Cookout Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway with Erik Jones.
Of the team’s 11 top-10 finishes this season, only one is at the hands of Ty Dillon, and the No. 42 team, having scored a 10th-place result on the dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway, earlier this year.
“With some of the recent changes we’ve made on the pit crew side, we feel this is the right time to make additional changes and see what areas still require work for the 2023 season,” Cohen continued. “Our goal is to provide both Erik [Jones] and Noah [Gragson] with strong teams next season and the opportunities to win races and contend for a championship. We also see an opportunity to increase the performance of Ty [Dillon] and the No. 42 group for the remainder of the season. These decisions are what we feel is best for the growth of Petty GMS.”
“We will always be appreciative of Jerame [Donley] and everyone on the No. 42 who helped Petty GMS start in the Cup Series this season.”
Additional changes for both Petty GMS entries will take place beginning this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway and throughout the remainder of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season.
