A significant milestone is in the making for Cliff Daniels, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series championship-winning crew chief who currently works atop the pit box of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team driven by Kyle Larson. By participating in this weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Daniels will call his 200th race as a crew chief in NASCAR’s premier series.
A native of Smithfield, Virginia, Daniels, who grew up competing in legends cars and late models in his home state before he retired from racing and obtained an engineering degree at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2010, first made his way into the NASCAR community in 2011 by serving as a race engineer for RAB Racing and driver Kenny Wallace. After spending the 2013 and 2014 seasons as a race engineer for Stewart-Haas Racing and three-time Cup Series champion Tony Stewart, Daniels joined Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) and served as a race engineer for the No. 48 Chevrolet team piloted by six-time champion Jimmie Johnson in 2015. Over the next three seasons, Daniels contributed to Johnson winning 13 races and the 2016 championship, which marked Johnson’s record-tying seventh of his career.
After spending the first half of the 2019 NASCAR season transitioning from being HMS’ engineer in the competition systems group before returning as a race engineer for Johnson and the No. 48 team, Daniels was promoted to the role of crew chief for the driver and team, beginning at Watkins Glen International in late July, as he replaced Kevin Meendering. In Daniel’s first Cup event as a crew chief, Johnson finished 19th after he was involved in a late incident with Ryan Blaney. Finishing as high as 16th at Darlington Raceway in September and averaging a finishing result of 24.6 during their first five races together, Johnson and Daniels missed the 2019 Cup Playoffs, which marked Johnson’s first time missing NASCAR’s postseason battle for the championship. The duo went on to achieve four top-10 results during the final 10 Cup races of the season before capping off the 2019 season in 18th place in the final driver’s standings.
Daniels remained as Johnson’s crew chief for the 2020 Cup season, which marked the latter’s 18th and final full-time season in NASCAR competition. Commencing the season with a 35th-place result in the 62nd running of the Daytona 500, Daniels and Johnson earned four top-five results and nine top-10 results in 25 of the 26-race regular-season stretch. At Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July, Johnson, who had tested positive for COVID-19, was replaced by Xfinity Series veteran Justin Allgaier, who finished 37th following an early multi-car incident on pit road. When the regular-season stretch concluded at Daytona in August, Daniels and Johnson missed the Playoff cutline for a second consecutive season. Both proceeded to conclude the 2020 Cup season in fifth place in the season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway in November and in 18th place in the final standings for a second consecutive season before Johnson retired.
In 2021, Daniels, who remained at HMS, was named crew chief for the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team piloted by Kyle Larson, who returned to full-time NASCAR competition following a one-year suspension. Four races into the 2021 season, Daniels achieved his first NASCAR career win as a crew chief when Larson scored a dominant and redemptive victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. Eleven races and four runner-up results later, the duo of Daniels and Larson recorded their second victory together in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, a victory that made HMS the all-time winningest team at 269. The hot summer streak for Daniels, Larson and the No. 5 HMS team continued as they won at Sonoma Raceway, the All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway and the inaugural Cup event at Nashville Superspeedway, all of which occurred in June. Another six races later, a fifth victory was generated at Watkins Glen in August. By virtue of achieving five victories, 14 top-five results and 18 top-10 results throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, Daniels and Larson captured the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Regular Season Championship.
Entering the 2021 Cup Playoffs as a championship favorite, Daniels and Larson commenced the postseason with a runner-up result in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in September. Two races later, the duo picked up their seventh victory of the season at Bristol Motor Speedway under the lights in September. Advancing from the Round of 16 to the Round of 12, the No. 5 HMS Chevrolet team advanced to the Round of 8 after winning the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course in October. During the following two weekends, Daniels and Larson kept the postseason momentum continuing and earned a one-way ticket to the Championship Round at Phoenix Raceway in November after winning both at Texas and at Kansas Speedway in the Round of 8. During the finale at Phoenix, Daniels and Larson captured their first championship in the NASCAR Cup Series division after Larson, who dominated and received a fast service from the No. 5 pit crew to exit pit road ahead of his title rivals under the final 30 laps, fended off former champion Martin Truex Jr. to win the finale for a season-high 10th victory. As a result, Larson delivered the 14th Cup title for Hendrick Motorsports and Daniels became the first crew chief to achieve a first race victory and championship in the same season since Joe Gibbs Racing’s Adam Stevens achieved the previous feat in 2015. Overall, the Virginian also navigated Larson to career-high stats in top fives (20), top 10s (26), laps led (2,581) and average-finishing result (9.1).
Returning in 2022 as the reigning champion, Daniels navigated Larson and the No. 5 team to an early season victory at Auto Club Speedway in late February. The race victory occurred a week after Larson had started on pole position for the 64th running of the Daytona 500. Despite being absent for four races between June and July due to a wheel loss stemming from Sonoma in June, Daniels navigated Larson to a second regular-season victory of the year at Watkins Glen before the Playoffs commenced. Despite transferring from the Round of 16 to 12 amid three consecutive top-12 results, the duo’s hopes of defending the championship evaporated following the Round of 12 as they finished ninth, 18th and 35th, respectively, throughout the round, which kept them out of title contention by two points. Nonetheless, Daniels and Larson managed to claim a third victory of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway in October before settling in seventh place in the final standings. By then, Daniels surpassed 100 events as a Cup Series crew chief.
The early stages of the 2023 Cup season generated a challenging phase for Daniels, who was suspended for four races between late March to early April as part of HMS being hit with a severe points and fine penalty due to the hood louvers being confiscated from all four entries during the Phoenix Raceway weekend at March. Amid the penalties, Larson achieved his first victory of the season with interim crew chief Kevin Meendering at Richmond in early April. Two races later, Daniels returned atop the No. 5 pit box as Larson drove his way to a second victory of the season at Martinsville Speedway. Once the Playoffs commenced in September, the duo kickstarted their quest for a second title by winning the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway and delivering the 500th victory for HMS’ engine department. After transferring from the Round of 16 with the Darlington victory and through the Round of 12 based on points, Daniels and Larson solidified their ticket to the Championship 4 by winning the Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas in October. Ultimately, the duo settled in the runner-up spot in the final championship standings after being outdueled by Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney.
In 2024, which marked Daniels’ fourth consecutive season as a crew chief for both Larson and the No. 5 team, the Virginia navigated his driver and team to an early season victory at Las Vegas in March. Nine races later, Daniels and Larson captured a thrilling win at Kansas Speedway as Larson edged Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher by 0.001 seconds, which marks the closest-recorded finish in NASCAR’s premier series. Despite Larson being absent from competing in the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 due to both weather and travel conflicts as a result of an attempted ‘Double Duty’ attempt that included the Indianapolis 500, which resulted with Justin Allgaier piloting Larson’s Cup entry at Charlotte, he rallied two races later by winning at Sonoma in June. Daniels would also navigate Larson to his first Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway victory in July, which marked the Virginian’s 20th career victory as a Cup crew chief. With a berth to the Playoffs, Daniels and Larson transferred from the Round of 16 to 8 after notching postseason victories at Bristol in September and at the Charlotte Roval in October. Their title hopes came to a late end following the Round of 8 and they would proceed to settle in sixth place in the final standings.
Through 199 previous Cup appearances, Daniels has achieved one championship, 25 victories, 13 poles, 73 top-five results and 101 top-10 results while working with a total of three different competitors overall (Justin Allgaier, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Larson). Currently, Daniels and Larson lead the 2025 driver’s standings as the duo have notched three victories (Homestead in March, Bristol in April and Kansas in May) and nine top-10 results through the first 12-scheduled events.
Cliff Daniels is scheduled to call his 100th event as a NASCAR Cup Series crew chief at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday, May 25, with the event’s broadcast time to commence at 6 p.m. ET on Prime Video.