Race Weekend Central

Premium Motorsports Rotating Crew Chiefs for 2018

After hiring two long-time NASCAR crew chiefs over the past six months, Premium Motorsports is putting Pat Tryson and Todd Parrott to work in 2018, fielding one full-time car as the two will lead the team on a rotating schedule.

Jay Robinson, owner of Premium Motorsports, claimed the move was for two reasons: (1) so the team can be more prepared upon showing up to the track on a weekly basis and (2) so each crew chief won’t get worn out by the grind of the long Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule.

“The idea is each crew chief will have about 12 full days with the car to prepare it and take it and get it checked on the Hawkeye machine,” Robinson told Frontstretch. “There will be more time off for the crew chiefs when the one that’s not working that particular weekend gets that weekend off. I’m sure he will watch the race, but he can plan some quality time with his family.”

At the Daytona 500, Tryson guided Justin Marks to a 12th-place finish, while competing for Rick Ware Racing, which was a one-race alliance with Premium Motorsports. At Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend, Parrott will be on top of the No. 15 pit box, only for Tryson to return to the box at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 4.

Robinson said that the team “invested in” hiring more employees over the offseason. The organization now has 37 team members spread between the chartered Cup team and the two full-time Camping World Truck Series teams.

“I beefed up the shop crew to the point that while the crew chief is back and working, he’s got a full race team around him to help prepare that car,” Robinson said. “That gives our road guys the opportunity to have a day off as soon as they get back, and hopefully they get their travel day off also.

“The idea is we keep them more rested. If you try to work seven days a week by mid-summer the heat – it’s fatigue, it will wear on you and the scenario that we put together, I think it will give the opportunity to have a better prepared car and more rested team and hopefully that will produce some more results on the track.”

In 564 career starts and 21 seasons as a crew chief, Tryson has eight victories, most recently in 2009 with Kurt Busch. Parrott’s been a crew chief for 23 seasons, and won the 1999 series championship with Dale Jarrett. In 664 starts, he has 31 victories, the last one coming in 2012 with Marcos Ambrose.

At the time of print, it hasn’t been announced who will be driving the No. 15 machine at Atlanta this weekend. Robinson said there is a “short list at this point,” though he hasn’t ruled anyone out. The team owner confirmed that the team has sponsorship for some races, but needs to find the right driver pairing.

About the author

Dustin joined the Frontstretch team at the beginning of the 2016 season. 2020 marks his sixth full-time season covering the sport that he grew up loving. His dream was to one day be a NASCAR journalist, thus why he attended Ithaca College (Class of 2018) to earn a journalism degree. Since the ripe age of four, he knew he wanted to be a storyteller.

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