Peterson to join Spire as McDowell’s crew chief for 2025

Travis Peterson will join Spire Motorsports next season to crew chief for Michael McDowell and the No. 71 team.

It is a multiyear agreement for Peterson. Peterson and McDowell currently work together at Front Row Mo torsports, where they have been paired on the No. 34 team since 2023. The duo won on the Indianapolis road course last year.

“It’s exciting to have Travis Peterson join Spire Motorsports,” Spire Motorsports president Doug Duchardt said. “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 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 and Rodney . I’m really excited to see what those three can do together.”

Spire Motorsports will field three entries next season with McDowell, Carson Hocevar and a third driver still to be named. McDowell’s team, the No. 71, will become a full-fledged Spire Motorsports effort next season, which included needing a crew chief, as Zane Smith moves on. Smith is on loan to Spire Motorsports from Trackhouse Racing, and the No. 71 team is currently made up of members from both organizations.

Peterson has previously worked for JR Motorsports and Hendrick Motorsports. He was a lead engineer for Jack Roush before moving to Front Row Motorsports. The 2025 season will be Peterson’s third as a Cup Series crew chief.

“It is a very exciting opportunity,” Peterson said. “Michael and I had the opportunity to meet with Doug and 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.

“There are times when you meet people and you are immediately able to naturally communicate on a real level. I feel like 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.”