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_(cropped).jpg) Johnston atTalladega Superspeedway in 2016 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Chad A. Johnston (1980-05-22)May 22, 1980 (age 45) Cayuga, Indiana, U.S. |
| Sport | |
| Country | United States |
| Sport | Motor racing |
| League | NASCAR Cup Series |
| Team | No. 84Legacy Motor Club |
Chad A. Johnston (born May 22, 1980) is an AmericanNASCARcrew chief who works forLegacy Motor Club as their Manager of Race Engineering as well as the crew chief of their No. 84Toyota Camry XSE in theNASCAR Cup Series driven byJimmie Johnson.
He was previously a crew chief in the Cup Series forChip Ganassi Racing (the No. 42 ofKyle Larson and laterMatt Kenseth),[1]Stewart–Haas Racing (the No. 14 ofTony Stewart and the No. 41 ofRyan Preece), andMichael Waltrip Racing (the No. 56 ofMartin Truex Jr.) and theNASCAR Truck Series forDavid Gilliland Racing. Johnston was Truex's engineer prior to his promotion by MWR to crew chief midway through the2011 season.
After graduating college atIndiana State University in 2004, Johnston got a job as an engineer forMorgan-Dollar Motorsports in theNASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Over the following years, Johnston became the engineer for teams such asJTG Daugherty Racing andEvernham Motorsports.[2]
In 2011, while doing engineer work forMichael Waltrip Racing, Johnston became the crew chief for the No. 56 team, driven byMartin Truex Jr. Over the 19 races they were together, the pair got 1 pole, 2 top-5's, and 5 top-10's.
The following year, in 2012, Johnston became Truex's full-time crew chief. Truex Jr. and Johnston finished off the season with 1 pole, 19 top-10's, and 7 top-5's. They would finish 11th in the point standings after making the Chase.
In 2013, the pair returned to the No. 56 team. Midway through the season at Sonoma, the team won their first race. They would finish of the season with 1 win, 15 top-10's, 7 top-5's.
Johnston moved over to the No. 14 team forStewart—Haas Racing, driven byTony Stewart. However, midway through the season, Stewart decided not to drive for three races, being replaced byRegan Smith for the first of those races andJeff Burton for the next two after being involved in thedeath of Kevin Ward Jr.[3][4] Stewart would return to the seat atAtlanta.
In 2015, Stewart and Johnston would pair up again. However, this season would prove to be a challenge for Stewart, as he would only be able to get 3 top-10's throughout the season, leading up to a 28th-place finish in the points standings.
Johnston would again move teams in 2016, this time moving to the No. 42 team atChip Ganassi Racing, driven by Kyle Larson.[5] AtMichigan in the fall, Kyle Larson would get his first win in the Cup Series. The group would end up finishing the season with 1 win, 14 top-10's, and 9 top-5's leading up to a 9th place in the championship standings.
Larson and Johnston would start off the 2017 season with 5 top 2's, one of them being a win. Larson would win 3 more times throughout the season, finishing 8th in the championship standings after having a lack of consistency in the playoffs.
Johnston would remain as Larson's crew chief in 2018 and 2019. After a winless 2018 season, the two won atDover International Speedway in the fall.[6] In 2020, Johnston would become the crew chief forMatt Kenseth after Kyle Larson was suspended for saying aracial slur during a streamediRacing event.
Although he did score a second-place finish in the2020 Brickyard 400 and a tenth-place finish in his first race with the team atDarlington in May, Kenseth's return was largely a disappointment, and Johnston was released as the crew chief of the No. 42 on August 4 and replaced by the team's engineer since 2016, Phil Surgen, starting at theMichigan doubleheader.[1] Surgen also substituted for Johnston in the crew chief role for one race in 2016, also coincidentally at Michigan, where he would lead Larson and the team to a third-place finish in that race. Johnston had been suspended due to the lug nut rule.[7]
With one race to go in the2020 ARCA Menards Series West season, Johnston was picked up byDGR-Crosley to crew chief their No. 17 Ford ofTaylor Gray in the season-finale atPhoenix, where Gray would finish third in this race. Johnston stayed on with the team, now just known as David Gilliland Racing, in 2021, crew chiefing Gray in his full season in theARCA Menards Series East and part-time schedule in the mainARCA Menards Series.
In 2020, it was announced byDGR-Crosley thatTaylor Gray would make his Truck Series debut in2021, driving the No. 17 Ford part-time, and Johnston would be Gray's crew chief.[8]
In December 2022, Johnston returned toStewart—Haas Racing and theNASCAR Cup Series after it was announced that driver,Ryan Preece would replaceCole Custer in the No. 41 for the 2023 season. Johnston and Preece previously worked together in the Truck Series withDavid Gilliland Racing, having won together twice, atNashville Superspeedway in 2021 and 2022.
When SHR closed down after the 2024 season, Johnston was hired byLegacy Motor Club days after the 2024 season-finale at Phoenix to be the team's Manager of Race Engineering.[9] On February 5, 2025, it was announced that Johnson would crew chief LMC's No. 84 forJimmie Johnson.[10]