Drew Blickensderfer
Crew Chief, No. 10 Ford Mustang
Birth Date: Nov. 12, 1976
Birth Place: Mount Zion, Illinois
Home Town: Decatur, Illinois
Residence: Mooresville, North Carolina
Spouse: Lori
Bio:
Gauging your opponent and maximizing your strength is what Drew Blickensderfer did as a wrestler in high school and in college. The 46-year-old from Decatur, Illinois, uses those same principles as the crew chief for driver Aric Almirola and the No. 10 team of Stewart-Haas Racing.
Blickensderfer is the son of a high school basketball coach whose accolades are enshrined in the Illinois Basketball Hall of Fame. While he didn’t play basketball growing up, Blickensderfer had a passion for sports. He was on the high school wrestling team and also ran track, and while a follower of traditional, stick-and-ball sports, he was introduced to racing at an early age by his uncle and grandfather.
“When I got the car bug, I got it fairly early,” Blickensderfer said. “My grandfather owned a service station in a little town in central Illinois and my uncle was a mechanic. I got the car bug, not necessarily the racing bug, but I did eventually do some racing. My uncle helped me race dirt tracks in Illinois but, at the same time, I was getting ready to go off to wrestle at Indiana University. I would still come home during the summer and race. I had a few injuries my first year at Indiana and decided to transfer back home to Millikin University right outside my hometown and I ended up racing in the summer there for a few years.”
Partway through his time at Millikin where Blickensderfer was a pre-season All-American wrestler, he realized he needed to choose a professional path – one that wasn’t behind the wheel of a racecar. With the bite of that car bug still itching, Blickensderfer left Millikin before his senior year in 1999 – where he was ranked fifth in the country among his Division III counterparts – and packed his bags and headed to North Carolina with just a few hundred dollars in his pocket intent on becoming a crew chief in NASCAR.
His first job after moving south came in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with driver/owner Bobby Hillin Jr. It was a small team and thanks to its structure, Blickensderfer held multiple positions, allowing him to learn a multitude of skills that he ended up taking to future teams.
“I used my tire-changing skills to kind of move around to better organizations because I wanted to be a crew chief from day one,” Blickensderfer said. “I didn’t want to drive cars, I didn’t want to be a shock guy, and I didn’t want to be a pit crew member for a long time. I used the tire-changing skills to get me into doors and I learned how to set up cars.”
At the end of 2001, Blickensderfer became a rear tire changer and mechanic for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI) and its No. 1 car with driver Steve Park. He joined Bill Davis Racing in 2003 and worked with driver Ward Burton, setting up his racecar and changing tires before moving to Roush-Fenway Racing in 2004 as a crew member on its signature No. 6 car in the NASCAR Cup Series with NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin.
In 2007 while still at Roush, Blickensderfer was named crew chief for the team’s No. 17 Xfinity Series program with driver Matt Kenseth, and they won two races. That success led Roush to move Blickensderfer to its No. 60 Xfinity Series team halfway through 2008 where he worked with driver Carl Edwards, a pairing that proved immediately successful as Edwards won in June at the Milwaukee Mile to kickstart a seven-win season that led to a runner-up finish in the championship standings.
By the end of 2008, Roush promoted Blickensderfer to Cup, reuniting him with Kenseth. The pairing debuted in spectacular fashion in 2009, as they won the season-opening Daytona 500 and then took the checkered flag in the very next race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, making Kenseth just the fifth driver in series history to start a season with back-to-back victories.
Blickensderfer began 2010 as Kenseth’s crew chief, but Roush needed his skill sets in the organization’s burgeoning research-and-development program, as a new racecar – the Gen 6 – was coming to the Cup Series in 2013. This didn’t mean Blickensderfer climbed off the pit box. Instead, he kept his finger on the pulse of setting up racecars and determining race strategy by serving as Edwards’ crew chief for 26 Xfinity Series races, where they won two races, scored two poles and earned 13 top-fives and 20 top-10s.
Those stats moved Blickensderfer back to Cup in 2011, this time with Roush driver David Ragan. The pairing earned Blickensderfer his second win at Daytona, as he guided Ragan to victory in July at the Coke Zero 400.
In 2012, Blickensderfer was at Richard Childress Racing, serving as Jeff Burton’s crew chief. He spent 33 races with the veteran driver before “The King”, Richard Petty, came calling, seeking Blickensderfer’s expertise at his eponymous team, Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM). Petty paired Blickensderfer with two-time Australian V8 Supercars champion Marcos Ambrose for the final three races of 2012 before a full season in 2013.
It was at RPM where Blickensderfer first began working with Almirola, as he was Ambrose’s teammate at the two-car organization. Eventually, Blickensderfer became Almirola’s crew chief. He was head wrench for final seven races of 2016 before a full schedule with Almirola in 2017.
Almirola left RPM at the conclusion of the 2017 season for Stewart-Haas Racing. Despite the departure, Almirola and Blickensderfer kept in touch. Blickensderfer remained in the Ford camp, switching from RPM where he was the crew chief for Bubba Wallace to Front Row Motorsports in 2019 where he became the crew chief for driver Michael McDowell. And when Blickensderfer won his second Daytona 500 in 2021 with McDowell, Almirola was one of the first to congratulate him.
Now the duo has been reunited at Stewart-Haas Racing where Blickensderfer helps Almirola with the same mindset that got him to Cup – gauge your opponents and maximize your strengths.
Blickensderfer resides in Mooresville, North Carolina, with his wife, Lori.
Blickensderfer is the son of a high school basketball coach whose accolades are enshrined in the Illinois Basketball Hall of Fame. While he didn’t play basketball growing up, Blickensderfer had a passion for sports. He was on the high school wrestling team and also ran track, and while a follower of traditional, stick-and-ball sports, he was introduced to racing at an early age by his uncle and grandfather.
“When I got the car bug, I got it fairly early,” Blickensderfer said. “My grandfather owned a service station in a little town in central Illinois and my uncle was a mechanic. I got the car bug, not necessarily the racing bug, but I did eventually do some racing. My uncle helped me race dirt tracks in Illinois but, at the same time, I was getting ready to go off to wrestle at Indiana University. I would still come home during the summer and race. I had a few injuries my first year at Indiana and decided to transfer back home to Millikin University right outside my hometown and I ended up racing in the summer there for a few years.”
Partway through his time at Millikin where Blickensderfer was a pre-season All-American wrestler, he realized he needed to choose a professional path – one that wasn’t behind the wheel of a racecar. With the bite of that car bug still itching, Blickensderfer left Millikin before his senior year in 1999 – where he was ranked fifth in the country among his Division III counterparts – and packed his bags and headed to North Carolina with just a few hundred dollars in his pocket intent on becoming a crew chief in NASCAR.
His first job after moving south came in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with driver/owner Bobby Hillin Jr. It was a small team and thanks to its structure, Blickensderfer held multiple positions, allowing him to learn a multitude of skills that he ended up taking to future teams.
“I used my tire-changing skills to kind of move around to better organizations because I wanted to be a crew chief from day one,” Blickensderfer said. “I didn’t want to drive cars, I didn’t want to be a shock guy, and I didn’t want to be a pit crew member for a long time. I used the tire-changing skills to get me into doors and I learned how to set up cars.”
At the end of 2001, Blickensderfer became a rear tire changer and mechanic for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI) and its No. 1 car with driver Steve Park. He joined Bill Davis Racing in 2003 and worked with driver Ward Burton, setting up his racecar and changing tires before moving to Roush-Fenway Racing in 2004 as a crew member on its signature No. 6 car in the NASCAR Cup Series with NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin.
In 2007 while still at Roush, Blickensderfer was named crew chief for the team’s No. 17 Xfinity Series program with driver Matt Kenseth, and they won two races. That success led Roush to move Blickensderfer to its No. 60 Xfinity Series team halfway through 2008 where he worked with driver Carl Edwards, a pairing that proved immediately successful as Edwards won in June at the Milwaukee Mile to kickstart a seven-win season that led to a runner-up finish in the championship standings.
By the end of 2008, Roush promoted Blickensderfer to Cup, reuniting him with Kenseth. The pairing debuted in spectacular fashion in 2009, as they won the season-opening Daytona 500 and then took the checkered flag in the very next race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, making Kenseth just the fifth driver in series history to start a season with back-to-back victories.
Blickensderfer began 2010 as Kenseth’s crew chief, but Roush needed his skill sets in the organization’s burgeoning research-and-development program, as a new racecar – the Gen 6 – was coming to the Cup Series in 2013. This didn’t mean Blickensderfer climbed off the pit box. Instead, he kept his finger on the pulse of setting up racecars and determining race strategy by serving as Edwards’ crew chief for 26 Xfinity Series races, where they won two races, scored two poles and earned 13 top-fives and 20 top-10s.
Those stats moved Blickensderfer back to Cup in 2011, this time with Roush driver David Ragan. The pairing earned Blickensderfer his second win at Daytona, as he guided Ragan to victory in July at the Coke Zero 400.
In 2012, Blickensderfer was at Richard Childress Racing, serving as Jeff Burton’s crew chief. He spent 33 races with the veteran driver before “The King”, Richard Petty, came calling, seeking Blickensderfer’s expertise at his eponymous team, Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM). Petty paired Blickensderfer with two-time Australian V8 Supercars champion Marcos Ambrose for the final three races of 2012 before a full season in 2013.
It was at RPM where Blickensderfer first began working with Almirola, as he was Ambrose’s teammate at the two-car organization. Eventually, Blickensderfer became Almirola’s crew chief. He was head wrench for final seven races of 2016 before a full schedule with Almirola in 2017.
Almirola left RPM at the conclusion of the 2017 season for Stewart-Haas Racing. Despite the departure, Almirola and Blickensderfer kept in touch. Blickensderfer remained in the Ford camp, switching from RPM where he was the crew chief for Bubba Wallace to Front Row Motorsports in 2019 where he became the crew chief for driver Michael McDowell. And when Blickensderfer won his second Daytona 500 in 2021 with McDowell, Almirola was one of the first to congratulate him.
Now the duo has been reunited at Stewart-Haas Racing where Blickensderfer helps Almirola with the same mindset that got him to Cup – gauge your opponents and maximize your strengths.
Blickensderfer resides in Mooresville, North Carolina, with his wife, Lori.
