Michael McDowell will have a familiar face atop the pit box in 2025.
Travis Peterson has signed a multi-year agreement and will join Spire Motorsports at the conclusion of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) season. Peterson will call the shots for McDowell and the No. 71 Chevrolet, filling out the team’s NCS crew chief lineup for the 2025 campaign.
Peterson, 33, has been paired with the 2021 Daytona 500 winner since 2023 combining for three pole positions, one win, four top-five and 14 top-ten finishes. The potent duo made headlines last July by snaring the checkered flag in the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
“It’s exciting to have Travis Peterson join Spire Motorsports,” said Spire Motorsports president Doug Duchardt. “The first time Travis and I worked together was when Greg Ives and Travis came to Hendrick Motorsports to be the crew chief and the engineer for the No. 88 car with Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. I got to spend time with Travis there as a young engineer and it’s exciting to see how he’s grown into a leader and a crew chief. He’s going to add tremendous depth to our crew chief lineup and be a great compliment to Luke (Lambert) and Rodney (Childers). I’m really excited to see what those three can do together.”
Born in Wisconsin, Peterson moved with his family to the Charlotte metro at a young age when his father accepted a position at Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR). The younger Peterson would later work as a race engineer intern at JGR in the K&N Pro Series East ranks while working towards a mechanical engineering degree.
Upon graduating from the William States Lee College of Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in fall 2012, Peterson immediately went to work at JR Motorsports (JRM), where he was part of Chase Elliott’s three-win 2014 season that ultimately resulted in the NASCAR Xfinity Series title. Following a two-year run of success at JRM, the badger-state native moved to Hendrick Motorsports where he worked with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the famed No. 88 team from 2015-2018.
Peterson has proven to be one of the most promising young crew chiefs on pit road and has called 63 races in NASCAR’s premier division, to date. Prior to his time with McDowell and Front Row Motorsports, Peterson spent five seasons as a lead race engineer at Roush Fenway Racing.
“It is a very exciting opportunity,” said Peterson. “Michael (McDowell) and I had the opportunity to meet with Doug (Duchardt) and (Jeff) Dickerson and they really sold us on the vision of where Spire is going and how we could be big role players in building the organization. I think having that skin in the game was important to both of us. The opportunity in front of us has all the potential to be very rewarding. That was a huge part of it. I love the energy right now and the overall culture around Spire Motorsports. They’re investing in people and team ownership is highly engaged. The mindset is ‘We’re going to do what it takes to win and this is what we want to build. Here’s the vision, where we’re going, what we’re going to do to get there, and we want you to be part of it.’ That was the biggest selling point.”
McDowell is a veteran of 487 NCS starts and a two-time NCS race winner. He made his debut in 2008 and has since recorded three pole positions, 11 top-five and 43 top-10 finishes in NASCAR’s premier division.
“There are times when you meet people and you are immediately able to naturally communicate on a real level,” said Peterson of his relationship with McDowell. “I feel like we were that way from the start. We didn’t have to work at it. Our personalities, the way we openly communicate, and our honest nature helped us click from the start. We have no problem talking about hard stuff or easy stuff. We can be happy together when we win and be sad together when we lose. There is no red tape. We just work. It’s hard to recreate that. Staying together is a huge part in coming to Spire Motorsports for both of us. It’s hard to put a value on a driver/crew chief pairing, but there’s an intangible there. We just know it has been working, and if we can keep it going, we’re only going to get better over time. That’s what we’re chasing. We want to continue to grow and get better together.”
Spire Motorsports was founded in 2018 and has logged 354 Cup Series starts, posting one win, seven top fives and 14 top 10s.
Peterson will work alongside veteran NASCAR topkicks Rodney Childers and Luke Lambert in 2025 as the three-car Mooresville, N.C., team looks to capitalize on experience and depth, and build itself into a consistent challenger for race wins, top 10s and playoff berths.
“It’s going to be exciting,” Peterson continued. “Rodney (Childers) is a veteran of the sport. It is exciting for me to learn from a guy with that much success. Luke (Lambert) and I worked together when I was an engineer at Roush so we’re definitely familiar with one another. We have all seen each other around and we’ve all paid attention to each other. Combining all those ideas will be exciting. That is where a lot of strength is right now in the sport. The teamwork side of our group is going to be very valuable.”
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