Joe Gibbs Racing will be making a unique change to its NASCAR Xfinity Series personnel lineup in select events this season, beginning with Saturday’s Explore The Pocono Mountains 225 at Pocono Raceway.
The organization, which fields four entries full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, will be performing a crew swap between the No. 19 and No. 20 Toyota GR Supra entries, both of which have featured a rotating cast of drivers in the opening 18 events of 2024.
Following this weekend’s event at Pocono, the same crew swap will occur in three additional Xfinity Series events later this season at Atlanta Motor Speedway (September 7), Kansas Speedway (September 28), and Talladega Superspeedway (October 5).
Seth Chavka, who has worked with Taylor Gray, Ty Gibbs, and several others as the primary crew chief of the No. 19, will take his entire crew to the No. 20 for the selected events. Saturday at Pocono, Chavka will work with Ryan Truex, in what will be the pairing’s third start of 2024.
Tyler Allen, who has picked up victories this season with John Hunter Nemechek, Aric Almirola, Christopher Bell, and Ryan Truex as crew chief of the No. 20 Toyota Supra, will take his crew to the No. 19, where he’ll work with Taylor Gray for the first time at Pocono Raceway.
“It is a unique situation where we have two all-star cars, so we have the opportunity for teams and drivers (both veteran and young drivers) to work with different groups within our organization,” a statement from Joe Gibbs Racing to TobyChristie.com reads. “The goal is to simply utilize all our resources to optimize growth and performance across the program.”
Upon confirming this temporary crew swap to TobyChristie.com, a representative from Joe Gibbs Racing detailed that the drivers of the No. 19 and No. 20 entries for the impacted races have yet to be determined.
The organization’s remaining two full-time teams, which have full-time drivers Sheldon Creed (No. 18) and Chandler Smith (No. 81) behind the wheel, will remain unchanged.
This season, when solidifying its NASCAR Xfinity Series driver lineup, Joe Gibbs Racing made a significant change in its crew chief lineup, putting first-time crew chiefs Sam McAulay, Seth Chavka, and Tyler Allen atop the pit box calling the shots and working alongside Jeff Meendering.
In a collective 72 NASCAR Xfinity Series runs this year, Joe Gibbs Racing has managed to collect seven victories with five drivers, as well as 25 top-five and 37 top-10 finishes.
