Joe Gibbs Racing Names Matt Lucas Crew Chief For No. 18 Nationwide Series Toyota Team

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In: Xfinity Series News

Joe Gibbs Racing announces today that Matt Lucas has been named crew chief for Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 Nationwide Series Toyota team.

Lucas, who has spent the past two seasons as the race engineer for the No. 18 team, replaces Jason Ratcliff, who was named crew chief for JGR’s No. 20 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team last month. Lucas’ background in racing is deep with extensive experience as an engineer and mechanic in NASCAR as well as CART and IndyCar racing. 

 “Matt has done a great job for us the past two years and he will provide the team continuity going into next season,” said J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing. “He has a close relationship with Jason (Ratcliff) that will also be beneficial as he fills that role. We are fortunate to have people here at JGR like Matt that allow us the opportunity to promote from within. That team has been one of the best in the Nationwide Series over the past several years and we look forward to Matt continuing to build upon that success.”

 Prior to joining Joe Gibbs Racing at the start of the 2010 season as race engineer for the No. 18 Nationwide Series team, Lucas spent four seasons with Roush Fenway Racing as a Nationwide Series engineer.  As a member of the No. 60 team from 2006-2008, he would help lead Carl Edwards to the 2007 Nationwide Series Championship.  In 2009 he worked with the No. 98 car driven by Paul Menard.

 “I am excited about the opportunity to lead our No. 18 team going into next season,” said Lucas. “We have a tremendous group of guys on this team and throughout our Nationwide shop and we plan to continue to deliver the type of success our sponsors expect and deserve.”

Lucas spent five seasons as a race engineer with Penske Racing prior to joining Roush Fenway. In addition, he has extensive experience in racing as a mechanic having worked with A.J. Foyt Racing in IndyCar and Dan Gurney’s All-American Racers in CART.

 He is a graduate of Cedarville College in Cedarville, Ohio and currently lives in Mooresville, N.C.

JGR PR

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