.jpg) Tryson atPocono Raceway in 2007 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Patrick John Tryson (1964-03-04)March 4, 1964 (age 61) Malvern, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Sport | |
| Country | United States |
| Sport | NASCAR Xfinity Series |
| Team | 99.Viking Motorsports |
Patrick John Tryson (born March 4, 1964) is an AmericanNASCAR crew chief who works forViking Motorsports as the head of the team's race shop operations. He previously worked as the team's crew chief on their No. 99Chevrolet Camaro in 2025.
Tryson previously worked as a crew chief forGeoff Bodine Racing,Roush Racing,Wood Brothers Racing,Penske Racing,Michael Waltrip Racing,JTG Daugherty Racing,BK Racing,The Motorsports Group, Circle Sport – The Motorsports Group,Premium Motorsports,Rick Ware Racing,Our Motorsports,B. J. McLeod Motorsports andAlpha Prime Racing.
Tryson began his racing career working withKenny Bernstein atKing Racing. In 1997, he became a crew chief forGeoff Bodine and hisGeoff Bodine Racing operation, but quit the team during the August race atBristol Motor Speedway after arguing with team managerTim Brewer over pit strategy after Bodine fell two laps down.[1] Incidentally, Tryson moved to Geoff's younger brotherTodd's car for the 1998 season.[2]
In 1999, Tryson joinedRoush Racing to become the crew chief forKevin Lepage andJohnny Benson. While the crew chief for Lepage, he recorded onepole position, two top-five and five top-ten finishes. Afterward, he left the team to work atWood Brothers Racing in 2000. While there he was the crew chief for two drivers:Elliott Sadler andRicky Rudd, and won one race at Bristol. Four years later, he returned to Roush as the crew chief forMark Martin. He was able to become one of three other crew chiefs to make theChase for the Sprint Cup in its first three seasons, with the others beingRobbie Reiser andChad Knaus.[3]
Midway through the 2007 season, he left Roush again, moving toPenske Racing to become the crew chief forKurt Busch and the No. 2 team. He remained in that capacity through 2009, when at the end of the season, he decided to move toMichael Waltrip Racing to become the crew chief for the new No. 56 team ofMartin Truex Jr.[4] Tryson was replaced byChad Johnston as Truex's crew chief in June 2011, and he was moved toJTG Daugherty Racing (which at the time had an alliance with MWR), where he became a consultant.[5]
In 2012, Tryson started the season as crew chief forDavid Gilliland atFront Row Motorsports.[6] In October 2012, Tryson joinedBK Racing, serving as crew chief for the team's No. 93 car and driverTravis Kvapil.[7] He continued with BK in 2013, moving from the No. 93 to the No. 83, which was driven full time byDavid Reutimann. In mid-summer 2013, he left the team.
In 2014, Tryson joinedTurner Scott Motorsports in theNationwide Series as crew chief for rookieDylan Kwasniewski.[8] Tryson was replaced by Shannon Rursch on July 17.[9]
Tryson was picked up by Curtis Key'sThe Motorsports Group team to be crew chief of the No. 30 car driven byRon Hornaday Jr. in 2015. After not qualifying for 3 of their attempted 7 races, both Hornaday and Tryson were released from the team. Tryson was picked up byCircle Sport to crew chief the team ofAlex Kennedy. After being replaced by Paul Clapprood starting atKentucky, for the rest of the 2015 season, Tryson worked forHattori Racing Enterprises. This included serving as crew chief for their part-time No. 80 Xfinity Series car when it attempted the race atPhoenix withRoss Kenseth.
In 2016, he joinedPremium Motorsports as the crew chief of their No. 55 car in the Cup Series. In 2017, Tryson returned to TMG, which becameCircle Sport – The Motorsports Group, to serve as crew chief of the No. 33 driven byJeffrey Earnhardt.[10] He did not return to the team after the race atMichigan in June, and returned to Premium Motorsports soon after. He would remain with Premium for the next two years as crew chief of the team's No. 15 car, mostly driven byRoss Chastain.
Tryson remained the crew chief of the No. 15 in2020, which was driven by rookieBrennan Poole full-time.Rick Ware Racing would buy Premium Motorsports during the COVID-19 break. He returned as crew chief of the RWR No. 15 car in 2021. That year, the car was driven by multiple drivers:Derrike Cope,James Davison,Joey Gase,Chris Windom,J. J. Yeley, andBayley Currey. After the race atWatkins Glen, Tryson would leave forOur Motorsports to crew chiefBrett Moffitt and their No. 02 car in the Xfinity Series, replacing Joe Williams, who moved toSS-Green Light Racing to crew chiefJoe Graf Jr.'s No. 07 car. In 2022, Tryson returned to Our Motorsports but moved to the team's No. 23 car ofAnthony Alfredo, replacing Kenneth Roettger Jr.[11]
On January 17, 2025, it was announced that Tryson would crew chiefMatt DiBenedetto's No. 99 car in the Xfinity Series forViking Motorsports.[12] On November 7, 2025, Viking announced that formerAM Racing crew chiefDanny Efland would take over as crew chief of their No. 99 car, now driven byParker Retzlaff in 2026 with Tryson transitioning to a new role as the head of the team's race shop operations.[13]
Tryson's father is Joe Tryson, a longtime crew chief for drag racer Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins. Tryson graduated fromWest Chester University, where he earned aBachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration.[14]