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_(cropped).jpg) Bullins atMartinsville Speedway in 2024 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Jeremiah Dallas Bullins |
| Born | (1977-05-08)May 8, 1977 (age 47) Walnut Cove, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Sport | |
| Country | United States |
| Sport | NASCAR Cup Series |
| Team | 6.RFK Racing |
Jeremiah Dallas Bullins (born May 8, 1977) is an AmericanNASCARcrew chief who works forRFK Racing as the crew chief of their No. 6Ford Mustang Dark Horse driven byBrad Keselowski in theNASCAR Cup Series.
Prior to crew chiefing in the Cup Series, Bullins crew chiefed forTeam Penske in what is now theNASCAR Xfinity Series from2012 to2014. He previously worked forWood Brothers Racing from 2015 to 2017, crew chiefingRyan Blaney in the Cup Series part-time the first year and full-time the next two years before the two of them moved to Penske (which WBR has an alliance with) on their No. 12 car when the team expanded to three full-time Cup Series cars. He then moved to Penske's No. 2 car in2020, crew chiefingBrad Keselowski that year (finishing 2nd in the final standings) and in2021, and continued to crew chief the No. 2 car whenAustin Cindric became the driver in 2022. In their first race together, they won the2022 Daytona 500. Then he went back to the Wood Brothers in 2023 to crew chief the No. 21 car withHarrison Burton until late in the 2024 season when he announced his departure from the team.[1]
After graduating college, Bullins began his career in NASCAR withWood Brothers Racing in October 1999, whose No. 21 car was driven at the time byElliott Sadler. After his time with the Wood Brothers, he would work in theBusch Series (later Nationwide) forST Motorsports, which is nowJTG Daugherty Racing. He would later leave that team forRobert Yates Racing. Before the 2005 season, Bullins joinedRichard Childress Racing. During his time there, he worked as the engineer forKevin Harvick andClint Bowyer, and with those two drivers, he racked up a total of nine wins.[2]
Bullins was hired in December 2011 byPenske Racing to crew chief the No. 22 team in the Nationwide Series beginning in2012.[3] He replacedTodd Gordon, who was promoted to crew chief Penske's No. 22 team in the Cup Series afterSteve Addington left forStewart-Haas Racing to be defending series championTony Stewart's crew chief that year.
In his first year as crew chief for that team, he worked withBrad Keselowski,Parker Kligerman andJacques Villeneuve. Kligerman would be released and replaced byRyan Blaney for the rest of his part-time schedule in the car during the season. He earned three wins that season with Keselowski and came close to winning with the other two drivers as well, as Blaney finished second atTexas in November and Villeneuve finished third atMontreal after running out of fuel on the last lap and losing the lead he had held for most of the race. The team finished the year sixth in owner points.[4]
For2013, the team saw a notable uptick in performance. Bullins won at least one race with all four drivers of the No. 22 car that year. Keselowski scored six wins (up from three in 2012), and Blaney would earn his first win in the series atKentucky in September. Also,Joey Logano, Penske's new full-time Cup Series driver, also ran 14 races in the No. 22 car (Keselowski and Blaney each reduced their schedules by a few races to make room for Logano to drive the car as well). Logano came to Penske fromJoe Gibbs Racing at the start of the year, and he was instrumental in leading JGR's No. 18 car to the 2012 NNS owner's championship.A. J. Allmendinger replaced Villeneuve as the No. 22's driver for the standalone road course races ofRoad America andMid-Ohio Sports Car Course (which replaced Montreal on the schedule), and would win both of them in dominating fashion. Logano would pick up three wins, which came at bothDover races plusChicago in July. All of this success resulted in the team winning the 2013 owner's championship.[5]
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Bullins returned to the Wood Brothers team in2015. Now only a part-time team, the No. 21 car was driven by Blaney starting that year, replacingTrevor Bayne, who moved toRoush Fenway Racing to replace the departingCarl Edwards as a full-time driver on that team. WBR also switched from a Roush alliance to a Penske alliance starting in 2015, which is why Bullins was able to work for the team as he was still part of the Penske family. He had previously made his Cup Series crew chiefing debut on Penske's part time No. 12 car when Blaney drove it in his first two Cup races atKansas andTalladega.
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[6] like the successesJoe Gibbs Racing was having.[7] During Bullins' time with the No. 12 ofRyan Blaney, the car was arguably the weakest in the Penske stable both years,[8] and he was reassigned toBrad Keselowski's No. 2 team, replacingPaul Wolfe, who moved toJoey Logano's No. 22.Todd Gordon, who had been Logano's crew chief and was very much successful in that role, replaced Bullins as Blaney's crew chief on the No. 12.
The duo started the year off on a good note, and Keselowski led 30 laps in theDaytona 500 and 82 atPhoenix three races later. After the first four races, the season was halted for two months due to thecoronavirus pandemic. Keselowski and Bullins won 4 races that year, including the2020 Coca-Cola 600 and finished second in the final standings behindChase Elliott.
In 2021, Keselowski finished sixth in the final standings and only won the race at Talladega in April. It was his last season with Penske before leaving for Roush Fenway Racing to become the driver of their No. 6 car as well as a co-owner of the team, which was renamedRFK Racing. Bullins would remain the crew chief of the No. 2 car in 2022 whenAustin Cindric moved up from Penske's Xfinity Series No. 22 car to replace Keselowski. Cindric and Bullins won the2022 Daytona 500.[9] On July 20, Bullins was suspended for four races due to a tire and wheel loss during the2022 Ambetter 301 atLoudon. Engineer Grant Hutchens would fill in for Bullins in these four races. He also previously filled in for Bullins in theCoca-Cola 600 when Bullins was sick.[10]
After Cindric had asophomore slump in 2023 and failed to qualify for the playoffs, andHarrison Burton, the driver of the Wood Brothers No. 21 car that year, also failed to qualify for the playoffs, Penske decided to move Bullins back to the Wood Brothers to be Burton's crew chief, switching cars with Brian Wilson, who moved from the WBR No. 21 car back in-house to Penske to crew chief Cindric and the No. 2 car. (Wilson and Cindric also previously won the2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship together for Penske.)
After struggling throughout the2024 season, Burton and the No. 21 won at theDaytona night race, scoring the Wood Brothers' 100th win and making the playoffs. The team was eliminated at the conclusion of the Round of 16 at theBristol night race. On October 25, Bullins parted ways with WBR, with Grant Hutchens replacing him for the remainder of the season.[11]
On November 21, 2024, it was announced that Bullins would reunite withBrad Keselowski atRFK Racing, crew chiefing him on the No. 6 car in 2025, replacingMatt McCall.[12]
Bullins is a 1995 graduate of South Stokes High School and then attendedNorth Carolina State University, studying Mechanical Engineering. He is fromWalnut Cove, North Carolina, and lives inChina Grove, North Carolina today with his wife Tina.[2]
