RAB Racing with Brack Maggard announced today that Scott Zipadelli, crew chief of the team’s NASCAR Nationwide Series effort, will call the shots for the team as they attempt to make their NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut in the 54th-annual Daytona 500 on Feb. 26.
Working alongside Zipadelli will be Brandon Thomas, who comes to RAB Racing from the now-defunct Red Bull Racing Team. Thomas, 37, has been overseeing construction and preparation of the American Ethanol Toyota Camry, and will be atop the pit box at Daytona International Speedway as race engineer.
In addition to his Sprint Cup Series duties, Zipadelli will continue in his full-time position as the team’s Nationwide Series crew chief.
“We’re really looking forward to heading to Daytona,” said Zipadelli. “I’m very happy about, and proud of the opportunity we have at RAB Racing to enter a car not only in the Sprint Cup Series, but in the Daytona 500 as well. It’s a tremendous opportunity for the company, for American Ethanol and Toyota.”
Zipadelli, an East Haddam, Conn., native has been involved in motorsports since birth, and has been with RAB Racing since July 2010. In his first race as crew chief for the Concord, N.C.-based team, he guided driver Boris Said to the win at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.
“Having guys like Scott and Brandon working on our American Ethanol Toyota gives me a lot of confidence heading to Daytona,” said Robby Benton, owner of RAB Racing. “Scott deserves a lot of the credit for getting RAB Racing to the point of where we’re at today. He’s an incredibly talented individual, and he’s assembled a solid team around him. When the opportunity to have Brandon come over and help us prepare for the Daytona 500 came about, I felt that we would have a strong pairing that would give us our best opportunity to make the race. I feel like they’ve done just that, and I look forward to getting to the track to see how we’ll stack up.”
RAB Racing PR
