Chris Lawson has been named crew chief for Todd Gilliland and the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports (FRM) Ford Mustang Dark Horse team for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.
The news comes as Lawson, a former racer turned crew chief from Medway, Ohio, spent this past season as a Cup Series crew chief for Rick Ware Racing’s No. 51 Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry that was split between Justin Haley and Corey LaJoie. Through the first 29-scheduled events of the 2024 season, Haley recorded two top-10 results. Following a midseason driver swap between Rick Ware Racing and Spire Motorsports, LaJoie replaced Haley and piloted the No. 51 entry for the remaining seven events on the schedule. At the conclusion of the 2024 season, the No. 51 Rick Ware Racing entry settled in 34th place in the final owner’s standings.
Lawson, who made his crew chief debut during the 2018 Craftsman Truck Series season for DGR-Crosley, first joined FRM in 2020 when he was paired with Gilliland and the No. 38 Ford F-150 team. Over the next four seasons, Lawson would notch six victories while working with Gilliland and Zane Smith. During the 2022 season, Lawson achieved his first NASCAR championship as a crew chief when Smith fended off the competition during an overtime shootout to win the finale at Phoenix Raceway. The championship would also mark the first for both Smith and FRM.
Prior to the 2024 season, Lawson made his debut as a Cup Series crew chief for Gilliland and the No. 36 FRM Ford team at Talladega Superspeedway, where Gilliland finished 10th. Through 36 appearances as a Cup Series crew chief, Lawson has recorded three top-10 results and has worked with four different competitors as both he and Gilliland strive to notch their first victory in NASCAR’s premier series in 2025. The duo had previously achieved back-to-back ARCA Menards Series West championships between the 2016 and 2017 seasons while competing for Bill McAnally Racing.
For the 2025 Cup Series season, Lawson and Gilliland replace crew chief Travis Peterson and driver Michael McDowell. The latter duo are set to join Spire Motorsports after spending this past season notching a season-high six poles, seven top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 21.3 with FRM’s No. 34 team.
The remainder of Front Row Motorsports’ driver and crew chief lineup remains to be determined.
The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season for crew chief Chris Lawson, driver Todd Gilliland and the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang Dark Horse team is scheduled to commence with the Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium on February 2 at 8 p.m. ET on FOX. This event will be followed by the 67th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway that is scheduled to occur on February 16 at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
