STATESVILLE N.C. (Dec. 13, 2019) – GMS Racing announced today their crew-chief and number line-up for their four full-time NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series entries for the 2020 season. Chad Norris has been named crew chief for Brett Moffitt and the No. 23 Chevrolet team, Chad Walter will lead Tyler Ankrum and the No. 26 team, Kevin “Bono” Manion will call the shots for Zane Smith who will drive the No. 21 entry, and Jeff Stankiewicz will remain as the crew chief for the No. 2 team piloted by Sheldon Creed.
Norris has been with the Statesville, N.C. based organization for two years. He led GMS Racing to their first NASCAR Xfinity Series win with Spencer Gallagher at Talladega Superspeedway in 2018. The Iowa native has experience in all three NASCAR Series and has called the shots for many successful drivers like Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth and Mark Martin. Most of his experience came in the Xfinity Series where has called the shots for 23 different drivers and has accumulated four wins, 39 top-fives, 132 top-10s and five poles.
Walter, who served as an engineer for Ankrum last year, will step up to lead the team. Walter is no stranger to the crew chief role, he has served as a crew chief in seven Cup Series and 208 Xfinity Series events since 2005 for Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and many others. In 208 Xfinity Series starts he claimed five wins, 42 top-fives, 101 top-10’s and eight poles.
Manion has called the shots atop the pit box for many notable top-name NASCAR drivers like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and many others. Over all three NASCAR Series, Manion has accumulated five Cup Series wins, 27 top-fives, 65 top-10’s, and 10 poles, 15 Xfinity Series wins, 36 top-fives, 53 top-10’s, and nine poles, two Xfinity Championships with Martin Truex Jr. in 2004 and 2005 and four Gander Trucks wins, 16 top-fives, 28 top-10’s and one pole.
Stankiewicz will remain as crew chief for Sheldon Creed after the team hired him on partway through the 2019 season. The duo accumulated seven starts, two top-fives, four top-10s, and led 36 laps. In 2018, Creed won four races and earned 11 top-five, 12 top-10 finishes and three poles with Stankiewicz atop the pit box en route to the 2018 ARCA championship. Stankiewicz was previously with GMS Racing from 2015 – 2017 and led the team to an ARCA Championship in 2015 with Grant Enfinger.
“All four of our teams have veteran crew chiefs to lead the way and I don’t think we could get a better group,” said Mike Beam, President of GMS Racing. “All of them have the knowledge and experience to lead each of their teams to success this year and I am excited to see what they can do.”
ABOUT GMS RACING
GMS Racing competes full-time in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series with drivers Brett Moffitt, Sheldon Creed, Tyler Anrkum and Zane Smith. The team also competes in the ARCA Racing Series with Sam Mayer. Since the team began in 2014, GMS Racing won the 2016 NGOTS Championship, the 2018 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East championship and has grown to occupy several buildings located in Statesville, N.C. The campus also includes operations for GMS Fabrication. More information can be found at https://gmsracing.net/.
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