Michael Waltrip Racing names Gene Nead as interim crew chief for No. 55 team
Gene Nead (left) previously worked with Michael McDowell (right) in the NASCAR Nationwide Series at Michael Waltrip Racing. // Toyota Motorsports, Courtesy
Gene Nead has been named interim crew chief for Michael Waltrip and the No. 55 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota, replacing Robert “Bootie” Barker, who had been calling the shots for Waltrip this season after coming from Haas CNC Racing.
Nead will lead the team for the final 12 races of the season while Barker will assist the engineering department with special projects. Waltrip, who has skipped the two road-course races this year, is 34th in the driver standings, while the team is 32nd in the owner points.
Nead was most recently with MWR affiliate JTG Daugherty Racing as the crew chief of its Nationwide program with driver Michael McDowell for the first half of the season until that program ran out of funding.
“We have a lot left to race for this year, and we had the opportunity to add depth to the organization,” said Waltrip, who will retire from full-time racing at the end of the year and will run a partial schedule in 2010. “Gene will do a good job working with my NAPA team, and Bootie can help in other areas that should help me, David Reutimann, Marcos Ambrose and our alliances with Prism Motorsports and Germain Racing.
“I want us to finish the season strong, and anytime your organization can add quality people, it should.”
Nead won a NASCAR Truck series title in 2005 with Ultra Motorsports’ Ted Musgrave. He has also worked for Wood Brothers/JTG Racing, Bill Davis Racing, Robby Gordon Motorsports and Kevin Harvick Racing.
