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.jpg) Ratcliff atNew Hampshire Motor Speedway in 2018 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |  American |
| Born | Jason Mederic Ratcliff (1967-12-08)December 8, 1967 (age 57) Sumter, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Sport | |
| Country | United States |
| Sport | NASCAR Xfinity Series |
| Team | 54.Joe Gibbs Racing |
Jason Mederic Ratcliff (born December 8, 1967) is an AmericanNASCAR crew chief, who is employed byJoe Gibbs Racing as the crew chief for their No. 54Toyota Supra in theNASCAR Xfinity Series, driven byTaylor Gray. He has worked for JGR since 2005 and prior to that was a crew chief forBrewco Motorsports and a pit crew member with LAR Motorsports and Sadler Brothers Racing. He is the2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series championship-winning crew chief, winning the championship with driverKyle Busch.
He began his career in racing working on miniSprint Cars in Texas, before he was hired for his first job in NASCAR in 1995,Sadler Brothers Racing, based inNashville, Tennessee. While at SBR, he was a mechanic and rear tire changer for driversChuck Bown andGary Bradberry in theBusch Series. He worked there for only two years before joining atColumbia, Tennessee-basedLAR Motorsports as a chief mechanic forCasey Atwood andJeff Purvis during the1997 and1998 seasons.[1]
In 1999, Ratcliff got his first crew chiefing job. He moved from LAR toBrewco Motorsports to become the crew chief for rookieCasey Atwood. After working as the crew chief for him two years, Atwood moved to the Cup Series withEvernham Motorsports, and was replaced byJamie McMurray, who became Ratcliff's new driver.[1] During the2003 and2004 seasons, he became the crew chief forDavid Green. While together they won three races, achieved 11 top-fives, 21 top-10s and two pole positions, which resulted in a second place in the final standings, 14 points behindBrian Vickers. By the end of their relationship, they scored seven wins and seven pole positions.
In 2005, Ratcliff moved toJoe Gibbs Racing as the crew chief forJ. J. Yeley. He remained the crew chief for Yeley until 2006. During the two years, Jason Ratcliff was able to achieve 13 top-fives and 34 top-10 finishes. During thenext season, Ratcliff was the crew chief for three different drivers:Aric Almirola,Brad Coleman andKevin Conway, in which they earned two poles, four top-fives and five top-10s.[1]
In2008, he was the crew chief forKyle Busch andDenny Hamlin, which were both drivers of the No. 18. He was able to win five races total during the season, four with Busch and one with Hamlin. During2009, Kyle Busch became the full-time driver of the 18. Ratcliff and Busch won the championship, with nine wins, 11 runner-up finishes, 25 top fives and 2,698 laps led. With their teamwork, Busch was able to lead in all the races except for three. They also led more than 50 percent of the laps in a race an twelve times. Busch led the series points standings after 30 of the 35 events, including the last 29 weeks of the season, leaving little room for doubt in the championship chase.[1]
After seven years being the crew chief for the No. 18 Nationwide Series car, Ratcliff was announced to replaceGreg Zipadelli as the crew chief of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs RacingSprint Cup Series car, driven byJoey Logano, on December 16, 2011.[2] In 2013, Ratcliff served as crew chief forMatt Kenseth, but was suspended for one race after the No. 20 engine failed postrace inspection following Kenseth's victory in theSTP 400.[3]
On September 24, 2019, after two successfulXfinity Series seasons, Ratcliff and driverChristopher Bell were announced to move to theLeavine Family Racing No. 95 Toyota for the2020 Cup season.[4][5] LFR closed down at the end of the 2020 season, so in2021, Ratcliff returned to his former job as crew chief of the No. 20 Xfinity Series team for JGR, now driven byHarrison Burton.[6]
On October 27, 2023, Ratcliff announced in an interview onSiriusXM NASCAR Radio that he would be retiring as a crew chief after the 2023 season. He crew chiefed the No. 19 car forJoe Gibbs Racing in 2023. He spent the majority of his 24-year career in NASCAR with JGR crew chiefing in the Cup and Xfinity Series and became the winningest crew chief in Xfinity Series history. He also crew chiefed forBrewco Motorsports in the Xfinity Series early in his career.[7] Seth Chavka replaced him for the 2024 season on the 19 car.
On December 2, 2024, Ratcliff was announced to be returning to the 54 car, driven byTaylor Gray, for the 2025 season.[8]
Ratcliff moved six times throughout his childhood, starting inSumter, South Carolina, where he was born,[9] and ending inWestlake, Louisiana, where he graduated fromWestlake High School and began his racing career working on miniSprint Cars. After high school, he moved again toTexas, where he continued to work on mini Sprint Cars for the next nine years before his first job in NASCAR in 1995. The first two NASCAR teams he worked for were based inTennessee, so he moved there from Texas. Ratcliff currently lives inHuntersville, North Carolina (in theCharlotte metropolitan area where most NASCAR teams are based) with his wife, Christi, and two children, Cade and Dakota.
