MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Jan. 10, 2013) – JR Motorsports announced today the hiring of Mike Bumgarner as crew chief for the No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet in NASCAR Nationwide Series competition in 2013. The team is currently slated for 27 races with drivers Kasey Kahne and Brad Sweet.
Bumgarner has spent the last 18 years at Hendrick Motorsports, where he worked on cars for Terry Labonte, Jeff Gordon, and Kyle Busch. In 2007 he was crew chief on Busch’s No. 5 Chevrolet in the Nationwide Series. Together they compiled four wins, 14 top-fives, 16 top-10s and three pole awards in 2007.
Bumgarner’s jump into NASCAR came in 1992 with a team owned by Kenny Bernstein. Three years later he began employment at Hendrick Motorsports.
Bumgarner is from Huntersville, N.C. His naming as crew chief for Kahne and Sweet fills one of the final remaining slots in the JRM line-up for 2013. Greg Ives, who similarly arrived to JRM via Hendrick Motorsports, will head the No. 7 TaxSlayer.com/Hellmann’s team and driver Regan Smith.
ABOUT JR MOTORSPORTS: Based in Mooresville, N.C., JR Motorsports is the management company and racing operation for Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR’s 10-time Most Popular Driver and winner of more than 40 NASCAR-sanctioned races. JR Motorsports competes in multiple racing divisions, including the NASCAR Nationwide Series, in which it has earned 10 victories since its inception in 2007. In 2012 the JRM late model program won the track title at Motor Mile Speedway with driver Josh Berry, giving the company its first-ever championship. To learn more about the organization, its drivers and its sponsorship opportunities, visit www.jrmracing.com.
