Jason Ratcliff
No. 18 Nationwide Series Crew Chief

He’ll be the first to admit it’s not necessarily by his own choosing, but Jason Ratcliff, the fourth-year crew chief of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) team in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, has become widely known for his specialty in molding young, up-and-coming drivers into full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competitors.

Casey Atwood, Jamie McMurray and J.J. Yeley are three of his prodigies who have graduated into the Sprint Cup ranks over the last decade. But in 2008, Ratcliff gets a pair of drivers already molded into Sprint Cup superstars – Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch. The two wheelmen are still young despite being Sprint Cup regulars. Hamlin is all of 27 and Busch is an astonishing 22, and they will alternate race weekends behind the wheel of the No. 18 Toyota during the 2008 Nationwide Series season.

“I’ve worked with more rookies and young drivers as a crew chief over the years than I have with veterans, so I guess you could say I’m used to pulling my hair out,” said the 40-year-old Coppell, Texas, native with a wry, Texas smile. “Seriously, I haven’t gone out of my way looking for those situations. It’s just the way it’s worked out during my career.”

Ratcliff’s first year as a NASCAR crew chief came at Brewco Motorsports in 1999 when a young Atwood was a Nationwide Series rookie. The two had just moved to Brewco from LAR Motorsports, where Ratcliff was chief mechanic for Atwood and Jeff Purvis over a two-year span. Ratcliff and Atwood were together at Brewco for two years before Atwood left for a Cup Series ride at Evernham Motorsports and was replaced at Brewco by McMurray for the 2001 and 2002 seasons.

“Casey was just 18 and I was a rookie crew chief, so that first year we both got a lot of experience learning together on the job,” Ratcliff said. “That lasted a couple of years with Casey, and then we started all over again with Jamie. I’m proud to say we won a couple of times with Casey, and a couple of times with Jamie, which is quite an accomplishment with an independent Nationwide Series team.”

The 2003 and 2004 seasons at Brewco gave Ratcliff the chance to work with veteran Nationwide Series driver David Green, and the crew chief/driver tandem hit the ground running from the opening race at Daytona (Fla.) in 2003. They went on to win three races, score 11 top-fives, 21 top-10s and two pole positions en route to second-place in the season-ending driver championship, falling a mere 14 points behind title-winner Brian Vickers.

Working with Green, Ratcliff showed his mettle, and again, showed the NASCAR community that it was, indeed, possible for a non-Cup-affiliated Nationwide Series team to compete at a championship level week in and week out.

“Working with young drivers and developing young drivers is something I’m pretty used to,” said Ratcliff, whose racing breakthrough came in 1995 when he joined Sadler Racing as a mechanic and rear tire changer for drivers Chuck Bown and Gary Bradberry. “David (Green) was the first driver I worked with who was a veteran, and we got close to winning the championship. We won three races, several poles, and I really enjoyed that. A veteran driver has a lot to offer to a crew chief to make his job easier. At the same time, a young driver makes you think more out of the box. They’re trying to learn about racing, and you’re trying to learn about them. And every one of them is different. So you’re not stuck working in the same groove year in and year out. It’s satisfying to work with a veteran, and it’s satisfying to work with the youngsters.”

Before arriving at JGR prior to the 2005 season, Ratcliff had netted seven wins and seven pole positions with his combination rookie and veteran driver lineup. That set the stage for his new life at an established NASCAR Cup-affiliated Nationwide Series operation, which promised huge dividends.

Ratcliff enjoyed a solid run with Yeley in 2005 and 2006 as their respective careers with the Gibbs organization took hold. They collaborated on 13 top-five and 34 top-10 finishes in those two seasons together on NASCAR’s junior circuit while Yeley took on the role of Bobby Labonte’s replacement in the No. 18 Interstate Batteries machine beginning with the 2006 Sprint Cup season.

With Yeley’s time at JGR focused exclusively on his Cup effort in 2007, Ratcliff worked with the trio of Aric Almirola, Brad Coleman and Kevin Conway as they shared the No. 18 car. Collectively, they scored two poles, four top-fives and five top-10s.

Much more is expected in 2008, as Hamlin and Busch have combined to win 17 races and 22 poles in the Nationwide Series.

Ratcliff, born Dec. 8, 1967, resides in Huntersville, N.C., with his wife Christi and children Cade and Dakota. He enjoys working on cars, golfing and boating.

from the JGR Press Kit

Page last updated: February 26, 2008.