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_(cropped).jpg) Gordon atDaytona International Speedway in 2020 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Todd Bentley Gordon (1969-10-20)October 20, 1969 (age 56) Camden, New York, U.S. |
| Sport | |
| Country | United States |
| Sport | NASCAR Cup Series |
Todd Bentley Gordon (born October 20, 1969) is an American former professionalNASCARcrew chief and radiosportscaster. As a crew chief, he last worked forLegacy Motor Club as the crew chief of their No. 84Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in theNASCAR Cup Series driven byJimmie Johnson. As a sportscaster, he works forMotor Racing Network commentating on NASCAR races and radio shows.
He previously worked full-time as a crew chief forTeam Penske in theNASCAR Cup Series from2011 to2021. He most recently crew chiefed their No. 12Ford Mustang in the Cup Series driven byRyan Blaney in 2020 and 2021. From 2013 to 2019, Gordon was the crew chief forJoey Logano on Team Penske's No. 22 car. The duo won the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series championship and scored 25 wins, which account for all but four of Gordon's wins as a crew chief in the Cup Series. Gordon was the crew chief for the No. 22 Cup car for one year before Logano drove it,[1] when it was driven byA. J. Allmendinger and thenSam Hornish Jr. Prior to that, he crew chiefed Penske's No. 22Nationwide Series car driven byBrad Keselowski,Kurt Busch,Sam Hornish Jr.,Parker Kligerman andJacques Villeneuve in 2011 where he led the team to the owner's championship.
Gordon began his career in racing as a driver, racingsupermodifieds for three years at his home track ofOswego Speedway in New York state. He built the cars he raced in his college mechanical engineering program.[2]
Gordon began working in NASCAR mid-season in 1998 after graduating from college, getting his first job withPhil Parsons' No. 10 team in what was then the Busch Series. He leftPPR forJoe Gibbs Racing in 2000, where he worked as a fabricator and later a mechanic. During the2002 season, he left JGR forppc Racing and began in similar roles before eventually becoming an engineer during his time there, and later made his debut as a crew chief sometime in2004 on the No. 22 Ford ofJason Keller.[2]
He began crew chiefing permanently in2005 forppc Racing, calling the shots for their Busch Series No. 10 Ford driven by Mexican rookieMichel Jourdain Jr. After the team failed to qualify for the race atChicago, Jourdain was demoted by the team from their full-time No. 10 car to their part-time No. 15 car and would only drive in select races for the remainder of the season. Replacing him was another one of the series' rookies that year,Brent Sherman, who moved over from the No. 58 Stringer Motorsports car to drive for PPC. That year, Gordon would lead the team to only one top ten finish, which was with Jourdain Jr. atAtlanta. In2006, Sherman left for a Cup Series ride withBAM Racing and was replaced byJohn Andretti. However, Rick Gay served as Andretti's crew chief on the No. 10 car and not Gordon, who was the crew chief for the part-time No. 15 with Jourdain. Later in the year, Gordon replaced Randy Cox as the crew chief for the other PPC car, the No. 22 ofKenny Wallace.
He joinedCarl A. Haas Motorsports (formerly Travis Carter Racing) at the start of the2007 season, where he worked on the team's No. 14 car in the Busch Series, driven byKyle Krisiloff. He left that team for the newCJM Racing team, which moved from the Cup Series (No. 72 team) to the Busch Series (No. 11 team) during the season, and Gordon reunited with the team's driver Jason Keller as well as one race withMarc Mitchell. The team ran the full season in2008 with Keller and Gordon returning, although Keller was replaced by rookieScott Lagasse Jr. towards the end of the season. He also was concurrently the team's general manager.[3]
For 2009, Gordon paired with Keller for the third time, this time atBaker-Curb Racing in the No. 27 car. They scored six top ten finishes and finished eighth in the points that year.
In2010, Gordon did not crew chief any team, and joinedMichael Waltrip Racing as the engineer for the team's No. 99Toyota in the Nationwide Series that year, which was driven byTrevor Bayne and later the Truex brothers,Martin andRyan, after Bayne left for theRoush Fenway Racing No. 17 car late in the season.[3]
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Despite even having a solid 2019 season, Penske announced a crew chief shakeup for the2020 season in an effort to be more competitive and dominant[4] like the successesJoe Gibbs Racing was having.[5] Gordon was moved from Logano's No. 22 to the No. 12 ofRyan Blaney, arguably the weakest Penske car at the time,[6] with Blaney's crew chiefJeremy Bullins going to from Blaney's No. 12 to the No. 2 ofBrad Keselowski, andPaul Wolfe switching from Keselowski's No. 2 to Logano's No. 22, replacing Gordon.
The duo started the year off with a bang, as Blaney was in contention on the last lap to win theDaytona 500, but losing in a mostly-overlooked photo finish toDenny Hamlin due toRyan Newman's scary flip across the finish line which injured him. Solid runs at the next two races ofLas Vegas andFontana put Blaney in the points lead for two races. Blaney would crash out at the next race atPhoenix, which dropped him to sixth in points before the two-month break of the season due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.
Gordon picked up his second win with Blaney in therace at Atlanta in March 2021.
On June 28, 2021, Gordon announced that he would be retiring from crew chiefing after the 2021 season.[7]
On February 15, 2022, it was announced that Gordon would be joiningMotor Racing Network as an analyst for select NASCAR races on the radio in 2022.[8]
On January 23, 2023, it was announced that Gordon would join Legacy Motor Club to oversee co-ownerJimmie Johnson’s No. 84 Cup Series part-time schedule beginning with the 2023 season-opening Daytona 500. He was also the crew chief atAustin andCharlotte.
Gordon attendedClemson University where he earned a degree in mechanical engineering.[3] He is fromCamden, New York, but currently lives inMooresville, North Carolina (near where most NASCAR teams are located) with his wife and two children.[2]
Note: Logano scored one more top five (and ten) at Charlotte in 2013, but that was when Steven Reis was the interim crew chief as a result of Gordon being suspended.