Kevin Hamlin |
Kevin Hamlin found arguably his greatest success as a NASCAR crew chief with Richard
Childress Racing, guiding Dale Earnhardt Sr. to his final five victories. Now,
the crew chief who has been to Victory Lane nine times in the Cup Series hopes
to bring similar success to Team Red Bull as the crew chief for Brian Vickers. The Kalamazoo, Mich. native, who guided Butch Miller to a pair of ASA titles, has been the crew chief of cars that have won the pole position for two of NASCAR's biggest races - Rick Mast at the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994 and MIke Skinner at the 1997 Daytona 500. Using his ASA success as a springboard, Hamlin headed South to North Carolina in 1989 to work for Travis Carter's team before landing at Richard Jackson Racing where he was teamed with Rick Mast. In 93 starts, the two combined for 19 top 10s, helping pave Hamlin's path to RCR. He began the 1997 season with Skinner before team owner Richard Childress swapped each team's crew chief in 1998, making Hamlin Earnhardt's crew chief. Hamlin was Kevin Harvick's crew chief in 2001 when he won at Atlanta and was also Robby Gordon's crew chief in 2003 when the swept the road course events at Infineon and Watkins Glen. Hamlin left RCR following the 2005 season, landing at Bill Davis Racing where he remained until September of 2007, setting him up to head to Team Red Bull. |