With Austin Cindric and Harrison Burton missing out on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Team Penske has decided to make an immediate change, trading crew chiefs between the two second-year drivers.
Brian Wilson, who has spent the last two seasons as a crew chief of the No. 21 Ford Mustang for Wood Brothers Racing, will be moved back to Team Penske to call the shots for the No. 2 Ford Mustang, driven by Cindric.
This won’t be the debut for the Cindric-Wilson pairing either, as the duo previously worked together in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, where they collected 13 victories and the 2020 championship for Team Penske.
For Jeremy Bullins, who has worked with three different drivers in his tenure as a crew chief for Team Penske, there will be a spark of familiarity there, also, after the nine-time winning crew chief worked with the No. 21 and Ryan Blaney from 2015 to 2017.
Now, Bullins will have the opportunity to work with his fourth Penske-aligned driver, as he’ll call the shots for Harrison Burton for the foreseeable future, with the organization confirming these changes will remain intact for 2024.
Entering the final 10-race stretch of the season, Austin Cindric currently sits the highest of the second-year drivers in the points at 22nd-place, with a season that has included three finishes inside the top-10.
Burton, on the other hand, sits in 30th place in NASCAR Cup Series point standings, having only recorded a pair of top-10 results at Darlington and Pocono.
Team Penske + Wood Brothers to Trade Crew Chiefs
Effective immediately for 2023 & 2024, Brian Wilson will serve as CC for Austin Cindric and the No. 2 Team Penske Ford Mustang. Jeremy Bullins will serve as the CC for Harrison Burton and the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford Mustang. pic.twitter.com/QMvwlEB1SK
— Team Penske (@Team_Penske) August 28, 2023
