Front Row Motorsports has found its man to lead their No. 34 NASCAR Cup Series team for the 2023 season as Travis Peterson will join the organization as the crew chief of their flagship car.
Peterson, a native of Kannapolis, North Carolina, is ready to hit the ground running.
“I think there are a lot of people in the NASCAR garage who are noticing what Front Row Motorsports has accomplished with the new car and their truck program,” said Peterson. “This is an opportunity to come into a winning and championship organization and help take that next step of getting more wins in the Cup Series and be in the playoffs. I’m ready to get to work. I’ve always had the goal of becoming a crew chief and now I’m ready to take advantage of the opportunity.”
FRM made the announcement in the form of a press release on Wednesday. Front Row Motorsports was a team on the rise over the last two seasons, and the organization is doing everything in it’s power to keep moving the needle in the right direction.
“The past two seasons Front Row Motorsports has seen success and we’re taking the next steps forward,” said Jerry Freeze, General Manager, Front Row Motorsports. “We know that Travis is a person that can immediately come in, take the baton, and continue to move the No. 34 team to the front. We also made several changes internally to help with car preparation and engineering for all our race cars and trucks. Our final piece is finding a new leader for the No. 38 team. We’re confident that with these changes that we’ll be even better next season.”
Peterson is a longtime lead race engineer within the sport. Peterson has spent the last five seasons working at RFK Racing as the lead engineer for Chris Buescher, Ryan Newman, and Matt Kenseth. Before moving to RFK Racing, Peterson served in the same capacity for Hendrick Motorsports with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and at JR Motorsports.
The No. 34 Front Row Motorsports team enjoyed the best season in team history statistically in 2022 under the guidance of rookie crew chief Blake Harris.
Michael McDowell tied his career-high in top-five finishes in a season (two) and blew away his career bests in top-10 finishes (12), laps led (67), average start (17.0), and average finish (16.7).
In October, Harris was named as the successor for Greg Ives as the crew chief for Alex Bowman in 2023.
According to the press release, the organization will also be adding a new crew chief for their No. 38 team as Seth Barbour has been promoted to Technical Director and will oversee all track engineering and car preparation processes for both FRM Cup Series teams.
In addition to these moves, Ryan Bergenty, who served as the car chief for the No. 34 team, has also been promoted. Bergenty will serve as the team’s Performance Director in 2023 and will oversee the team’s body and chassis assembly.
