Spire Motorsports has announced a major change to its team for the upcoming season. Veteran race engineer Travis Peterson will take over as the No. 71 team’s new crew chief, starting in 2025 on a multi-year deal. The move pairs Peterson with driver Michael McDowell, continuing a successful partnership that has achieved significant success in the sport.

Peterson is transitioning from Front Row Motorsports, where he and McDowell have achieved road-course victories and other commendable best-of-breed finishes, in 2023. The collaboration yielded three Busch Light Pole Awards last year alone, highlighting a promising synergy as they prepare to rejoin forces under the Spire Motorsports banner.

According to NASCAR, Spire Motorsports President Doug Duchardt is excited to have Peterson join the team.

“It’s exciting to have Travis Peterson join Spire Motorsports. The first time Travis and I worked together was when Greg Ives and Travis came to Hendrick Motorsports to be the crew chief and engineer on the No. 88 with Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. I had the opportunity to spend time with Travis there as a young engineer and it’s exciting to see how he’s grown as a leader and crew chief. He’ll add tremendous depth to our crew chief roster and will be a great complement to Luke (Lambert) and Rodney (Childers). I’m really excited to see what these three can accomplish together,” Duchardt said.

Peterson himself is looking forward to the new role.

“It’s going to be exciting. Rodney is a veteran of the sport. It’s exciting for me to learn from someone who’s so accomplished. Luke and I worked together when we were engineers at Roush, so we definitely know each other. We’ve all seen each other and paid attention to each other. It’s going to be exciting to combine all of those ideas. That’s where the strength of the sport is right now. The teamwork aspect of our group is going to be invaluable.”

Reflecting on the change, Peterson also spoke warmly of his closeness with McDowell.

“We didn’t have to work for it. Our personalities, our open communication style, and our honest nature helped us gel together from the very beginning. We have no problem talking about difficult or easy things. We can be happy together when we win, and sad together when we lose.

“There’s no bureaucracy. We just work. It’s hard to recreate that. Staying together is a big part of why we both came to Spire Motorsports. It’s hard to put a value on a driver/crew chief duo, but there’s something intangible there. We just knew it worked and if we can keep it going, we’re going to get better over time. That’s what we’re after. We want to continue to grow and get better together.”

The announcement comes after Corey LaJoie left the team after a four-year tenure. LaJoie shared mixed emotions about his departure and ultimately expressed a deep gratitude for the opportunities provided by Spire Motorsports.

“I’ve had some realizations. Every place I’ve been has always been one-year deals, so this position I find myself in now is not uncomfortable. It’s not a place I’ve ever been before. You go through all the emotions, angry, sad… I think being a week away right now is where I’m super grateful. I’m so grateful to Jeff (Dickerson, team partner) and TJ (Puchyr, co-owner) and Spire for giving me the opportunity, believing in me from the very beginning when I was trying to whiteboard this thing and what we’ve made of it,” LaJoie reflected.