SCORE International will celebrate on Saturday, December 12 at the SCORE Tech Shop in El Cajon, California, during the 2015 SCORE Awards Night. The facility is located just east of San Diego.

At the Tech Shop, nearly 400 SCORE racers, family, friends, crews, sponsors and media will be present as the SCORE Awards Night will honor the history and fame of the name which is the standard for desert racing worldwide while celebrating the five-race 2015 SCORE World Desert Championship.

This year will mark the second time that the annual SCORE Awards Night has been held at the Tech Shop and the seventh time the historic evening will be held in Southern California since 2000, when it was held at Joe’s Garage automotive museum in Tustin, California. It will also be the sixth consecutive year in SoCal for the popular event.

“These evenings are always very special,” said Roger Norman, completing his third year as the SCORE CEO/President. “It is a great time for racers, families and crews to get together and celebrate another amazing SCORE racing season.  This was our third year overseeing this international treasure we call SCORE and the SCORE Tech Shop will be transformed to provide a very fitting environment to honor the achievements of the world’s greatest desert racers.”

Reservations for tables of eight or 10, with tickets priced at $85 per person, are being accepted online at www.score-international.com or by calling the SCORE offices at 775.852.8907. Individual tickets, with open-seating are also $85 each.

In addition to the special SCORE Achievement Awards and the Pro and Sportsman classes that had qualified racers for class season championships along with two overall point champions who will be honored. Another highlight of the evening will be the presentation of the annual SCORE Off-Roadsman of the Year Awards.

Individuals as well as manufacturers and organizations are honored through 11 distinct awards, whose winners are decided by several thousand SCORE fans through online voting including the entire SCORE membership of more than 2,500. Among the awards to be presented are SCORE Rookie of the year, SCORE Contingency Company of the year, SCORE Pit Support Team of the year, SCORE Mechanic of the year and SCORE Person of the year. Voting is being conducted through www.score-international.com starting Wednesday.

Another element of the diverse program will be the presentation of the 2015 Red Kap SCORE Milestone Awards. As it has for 30 years, the coveted SCORE Milestone Awards are presented to those racers who finish every required mile of the 2014 SCORE World Desert Championship. A total of nine racers completed all 2,303.81 required miles in the five-race 2015 SCORE World Desert Championship.

A pre-awards reception will start the festivities at 6 p.m., followed by the dinner, a special tribute to the 2015 SCORE season and presentations at 7 p.m.

All races in the 2015 SCORE World Desert Championship series, along with the special SEMA SCORE Baja 1000 Experience and qualifying for the Bud Light SCORE Baja 1000 from Las Vegas Motor Speedway are once again airing in the USA and Canada on the CBS Sports Network. New for 2015, in addition to SCORE Trophy Truck coverage, the shows also feature top action and highlights from many other classes of trucks, cars, UTVs, motorcycles and quads – making sure that the most exciting footage and most compelling stories are now part of each race event broadcast.

Capping off the 2015 broadcast season, the Bud Light SCORE Baja 1000 broadcast on CBS Sports Network will be expanded to a full two-hour program – providing the most expansive television coverage of the “Main Event” of all desert races ever, allowing all the major class action to be showcased around the globe to the SCORE International fan base.

2015 CBS Sports Network Original Broadcast Schedule (subject to change, check local listings)

Remaining Shows:
· Bud Light SCORE Baja 1000 Qualifying @SEMA SCORE Baja 1000 Experience (first telecast-Sunday, December 20, 9 p.m. ET)

· Bud Light SCORE Baja 1000 (two-hour special) (first telecast-Sunday, December 27, 9 p.m. ET)

Completed Broadcasts:
· Bud Light SCORE San Felipe 250 (first telecasts-Tuesday, March 17, 7 p.m. ET & 11 p.m. ET)

· Bud Light SCORE Baja Sur 500 (first telecast-Sunday, May 31, 9 p.m. ET; key repeat broadcast-Sunday, June 7, 9 p.m. ET)

· Bud Light SCORE Baja 500 (first telecast-Sunday, July 26, 9 p.m. ET; key repeat broadcast-Sunday, August 2, 9 p.m. ET)

· Rigid Industries SCORE Imperial Valley 250 presented by the City of El Centro (first telecast-Sunday, November 15, 9 p.m. ET; key repeat broadcast-Sunday, November 29, 9 p.m. ET)


The five-race 2016 SCORE World Desert Championship will include five special events and for the first time all five will be in Baja California, Mexico. Here is the complete 2016 SCORE World Desert Championship schedule:

· 30th Bud Light SCORE San Felipe 250, Feb. 25-28, San Felipe, Mexico

· 2nd Bud Light SCORE Baja Sur 500, April 14-17, La Paz, Mexico

· 48th Bud Light SCORE Baja 500, June 1-5, Ensenada Mexico

· Inaugural Bud Light SCORE Desert Challenge, presented by Rosarito Beach, Sept. 14-18, Rosarito Beach, Mexico

· 49th Bud Light SCORE Baja 1000, Nov.16-20, Ensenada, Mexico


For more information, visit the official website of the SCORE World Desert Championship at www.SCORE-International.com.

NASCAR announced that Scott Miller has joined the organization as Senior Vice President of Competition, responsible for managing all competition efforts related to technology, inspection, rule development and officiating across NASCAR’s wide portfolio of racing.
 
Miller will report directly to Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell, and work closely with Senior Vice President of Innovation and Racing Development Gene Stefanyshyn. All three are based at NASCAR’s Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina.
 
Miller most recently served as Executive Vice President of Competition at Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR). There he was responsible for managing all areas of competition. During his four-year tenure, MWR teams qualified for the Chase for the Sprint Cup in 2012, 2013, and 2015.
 
“We’re pleased to have Scott, an executive with a wide range of racing experience, join our team,” O’Donnell said. “He will be an immediate asset to NASCAR, our teams and each of our national series. Scott has worked in a collaborative spirit throughout his career, and represents the forward-looking approach we celebrate within our competition team.”
 
A respected leader within the garage area, Miller has more than two decades of NASCAR experience. Prior to his stint at MWR, he served in competition leadership roles at Richard Childress Racing. There he also helped lead teams into The Chase as both a crew chief and while serving as the Vice President of Competition. As a crew chief, Miller enjoyed his most successful season in 2008 when he called veteran Jeff Burton to two wins, seven top-five and 18 top-10 finishes en route to a sixth-place championship points finish. In all, the Bardstown, Ky., native has six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins as a crew chief.
 
“I’m looking forward to using the experience I’ve gained working within teams in an entirely new way at NASCAR,” Miller said. “Our sport has evolved quickly over the last several seasons through advanced technology and its creative application in the garage area. We will strive to continue this forward momentum while assuring a level playing field and competitive racing. It’s a challenging opportunity and a logical next step for me. I can’t wait to get started.”
 
Prior to his focus on the mechanical side of motorsports, Miller got his start as a motorcycle racer, eventually advancing to the national level in AMA Motocross. He made the transition to race cars in 1981 and was competing in NASCAR shortly after. In 1983, he was an owner/driver in the NASCAR Winston West Series. He spent five seasons in IndyCar where he worked as a chief mechanic before joining Tri-Star Motorsports in 1995, competing weekly on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series circuit.

NASCAR announced that Senior Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton will leave the organization at the end of 2015.
 
With a racing career that has spanned five decades, Pemberton joined the sanctioning body in August of 2004. Since that time, he has overseen all areas of NASCAR competition and been credited as a key component in bridging the gap between the sanctioning body and the racing community.
 
“Robin has left an indelible mark on the sport while at NASCAR,” said NASCAR Vice Chairman Mike Helton. “He joined us at a critical time and very quickly gave our highly visible competition group the credibility and confidence it needed to be successful with the industry. He traded a successful career as a competitor to help lead the sport for 12 seasons. We’re extremely grateful for his many contributions.”
 
During Pemberton’s tenure, NASCAR has seen a great number of technical and safety advancements. Against the backdrop of the massive NASCAR Research & Development Center, Pemberton’s Competition teams overhauled the inspection and rules process and procedures for all vehicles racing in the national series. He oversaw the transitions of NASCAR to Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI) and to race fuels with blended Sunoco E15.
 
Among the largest undertakings under his purview was the launch of the acclaimed Generation 6 style car in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2013. That style just completed its third season of on-track racing.
 
“I’m proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish during my time at NASCAR,” Pemberton said. “This sport has been my entire professional career and working with all the competitors and the auto manufacturers for the last 12 seasons has been a thrill. I feel good knowing that the work this team has done has had a positive impact on the sport.
 
“I look forward to the next challenge.”
 
Pemberton will help in the transition to a new competition lead for the balance of the year.

During this year’s PRI Show in Indianapolis, QA1 will host an unveiling of the new drag car for Street Outlaws’ Dave Comstock, also known as Daddy Dave. His new Chevy Nova will be revealed at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, December 10, in QA1 booth #741.

Daddy Dave has been racing for over 20 years and is a regular cast member on the Discovery show Street Outlaws. Originally rising to fame as “King of the Streets” in his 1996 GMC Sonoma pickup, Daddy Dave has been building his second Chevy Nova. Earlier this year, Daddy Dave was seriously injured in a rollover crash while racing his first Nova, Goliath. Emerging as determined as ever, he has built a new Chevy Nova, also named Goliath, which will be unveiled to the public for the first time in the QA1 booth at PRI. This Nova features QA1 shocks and the new QA1 REV™ Series carbon fiber driveshaft.

Throughout the show, Daddy Dave will also be signing autographs in the QA1 booth from 3–4 p.m. on Thursday, December 10 and Friday, December 11 as well as from 2–3 p.m. on Saturday, December 10.

Learn more about Daddy Dave and Street Outlaws at www.discovery.com/tv-shows/street-outlaws/ or www.streetoutlawsokc.com/. Learn more about QA1 at www.QA1.net. 

Bolstering its initiative to increase sportsman participation, NHRA is announcing changes for Competition Eliminator beginning in 2016.

Changes are being made to the Competition Index Control system that was originally introduced in the eliminator in 1990.

“Competition Eliminator is truly one of the most unique categories, in that it offers all out racing between a wide variety of classes of vehicles and engine combinations,” said Josh Peterson, vice president, racing administration. “We want more competitors to participate in this category.  The Competition Index Control system has undergone several changes over the years, yet is the best means to maintain parity between the 100 different class combinations. We think these adjustments to the CIC system will increase participation and improve competition in the class.”

The changes are as follows:

– All classes will have .10-second added to the class index at the end of the 2015 season.

– The “Mineshaft” policy introduced a few years ago to decrease the potential for index adjustments when favorable atmospheric and/or track conditions may contribute to extraordinary performances will now include any event where the first entry in the bottom half of the qualified field is .610 under the racer’s class index.  Previously the policy only applied in fields of 13 or more cars.

– A new “Personal Index” is being added to the CIC system, to decrease the potential for class index adjustments when favorable conditions at an event may contribute to extraordinary performances that may not be the case in other parts of the country.  The personal index will be applied when an individual records a .610 under or greater run during eliminations.  The class index will only be adjusted when a run of .710 or greater is recorded during eliminations.  Both will be adjusted on .01 increments with no plateaus up to a .10 maximum adjustment per event to a class index.

– Once a driver establishes a personal index in two classes, that driver is restricted to competition in the affected classes only and will not be allowed to compete in any other Comp class for the remainder of the current season.  If a driver establishes a personal index in only a single class, the driver will be allowed to compete in any Comp class.

– All qualifying will be based off of the class index.  Any elimination run between cars in the same class will be heads up based off of the class index.

NHRA will continue to monitor indexes and performances and will make necessary adjustments at any time that it may deem necessary to maintain parity in the eliminator.

VIRginia International Raceway, one of the top six road courses in North America, is announcing its 2016 track schedule, with tickets on sale now. The 2016 season, which features 11 prominent events, starts in April with one of the biggest races of the year.
 
The Biscuitville 125 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East helps kick off the schedule, returning for its fourth consecutive year on a new date. Formerly taking place in late summer, the race featuring some of NASCAR’s most talented up-and-coming stars will hit the VIR track April 30. Shortly after, pro motorcycle racing will be back at VIR for its second year in a row with the MotoAmerica Road Racing Series in mid-May.
 
August will remain a fueled up month with the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship taking place August 26-28 as the only mid-Atlantic stop in the premier North Americansports car racing series. In addition to the GTLM/GTD race, the Oak Tree Grand Prix, the action-packed race weekend will also feature several support series including the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge. The official season will close out with a spectator event off the pavement, at VIR’s NRA-approved shooting ranges with the 3-Gun Nation Nationals and Shooting Sports Expo in October.
 
“We’re ecstatic to welcome another high-energy lineup of events to VIRginia International Raceway, with fan-favorite races including the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Biscuitville 125 and MotoAmerica all returning to make this season another one for the books,” said Connie Nyholm, owner and CEO of VIR. “We’re looking forward to sharing all that VIR has to offer with a record number of fans this year. We invite everyone to come out and join us for what is sure to be a truly memorable season!”
 
VIR’s full 2016 spectator schedule includes:

April 15-17: The Sports Car Club of America VIR Spring Sprints Majors Tour

April 30: Biscuitville 125 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East; ChampTruck World Series

May 13-15: MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Championship

May 20-21: NASA Mid-Atlantic Hyperfest; Tire Rack Ultimate Track Car Challenge, presented by Grassroots Motorsports Magazine

May 28-29: Historic Sportscar Racing      
                                                       
June 11-12: Championship Cup Series Motorcycle Road Racing     
                       
Aug. 13-14: ChumpCar World Series: 24 Hour

Aug. 26-28: Oak Tree Grand Prix IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge                            
           
Sept. 17-18: Championship Cup Series Motorcycle Road Racing  
                          
Sept. 24-25: Heacock Classic Gold Cup, presented by the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association, Trans Am Road Racing Series

Oct. 8-9: 3-Gun Nation Nationals and Shooting Sports Expo    
          
Spectators save $10 by purchasing any event ticket in advance. Also new for 2016, children 16 and under are now admitted free of charge with a paying adult. Complimentary parking and paddock access will also be available at every event. To buy tickets or learn more, visit www.virnow.com.

Is your business positioned to win or is it a field-filler?
 
Have you and your team made a real effort to engage in planning and positioning your business for the future? Do you have a game plan that will help ensure your company’s viability, relevance and growth in the years ahead? Are you flourishing or slipping; innovating or stagnating; driving or hanging on?
 
So many unexpected or accidental entrepreneurs find themselves in business on the legs and strength of a timely, revolutionary or superior idea that they turned into a successful product or service. They didn’t rely on business plans or any kind of formal plans for that matter; no strategy, market or viability studies—just the desire and determination to make a living on their own terms.
 
Some of these success stories make the jump from small enterprise to becoming global brands; others run out of gas and eventually disappear. Given the opportunity, most business owners faced with these common scenarios in hindsight would invest the time and resources necessary to properly manage their company’s health, competitiveness and growth; but the key is to do it before it becomes a matter of hindsight.
 
What you do today determines where you will be tomorrow.
 
All successful businesses share common traits, the most fundamental of which are good strategy, planning and execution. And if you look a little closer, you’ll see a mandate and mentality among long-term successful companies to constantly improve the value proposition of their products, company organization, procedures, personnel and performance. Improvement is a constant goal, not a destination.
 
If you’re a business owner who was smart enough to put your enterprise on the map in the first place, but now find yourself with growing concerns about where you’re headed, then it’s time to take some simple steps to put your company on the right course.
 
Where do you want to be in the next five years?
 
Have you ever considered selling, merging, handing the reigns over to a successor, or winding down your business and dissolving its assets to fund retirement?
 
These are questions that most small business owners will consider eventually, and what you are willing to do to prepare for addressing these scenarios will directly affect how you will come out on the other side.
 
If you’re thinking liquidity event (selling the business) or contemplating handing the reigns over to a successor, you should definitely get yourself headed in the best direction to take control of your destiny. Truth be told, making the right improvements to strengthen your business is what you should be doing regardless of your specific endgame. Because at the end of the day, preparing your business to succeed long term will put you in the best position no matter what the ultimate scenario happens to be.
 
How do you get started putting your business on the track you want?
 
As daunting as it may seem, an easy way to begin the process is by simply sitting down and doing a light assessment of your business on paper. Start by getting a notepad and drawing a line down the middle of the page. On one side, list all of the things that your company did well when it started out, and things that you got better at along the way, including what you still do well today. On the other side of the line, identify the things that your company isn’t so good at, or where you feel you’re falling short or failing altogether. Be honest with yourself here—the first step to making positive changes is admitting that changes are needed to improve your situation.
 
Next, invite key personnel or managers to make their own lists, and encourage them to be completely candid without fear of repercussions for expressing their constructive opinions (if these people value their place and future with your company, they will embrace their chance to contribute). Then, get your team together and start refining and consolidating the collective input into one master list.
 
Take the list and spend time with it alone, without distractions (you need to make this important and a priority), and begin making notes next to each entry, identifying what you think the greatest determining or corrective factors are, or could be, for each line item.
 
Time to dig deeper—now make separate pages for each of the following areas of your business and write down your thoughts:
 

1. Product Viability: Is your product or service still relevant and competitive in the marketplace. Do you have enough product diversification to ensure revenue streams from multiple markets?


2.  Operating Efficiency: Does your company operate efficiently, and are your product margins enough to make healthy profits?


3. Marketing Execution: Do you have multiple, reliable methods for driving prospective customers to your brand? Does your product have compelling advantages over the competition?


4. Sales Production: Do you have an effective sales engine? Do you have a good team of people that can cultivate buyers and close sales while propagating goodwill and referral business?


5. Key People: Do you have good managers who are effective at building, motivating and maintaining successful teams?                                                                                           

Once you begin to understand the assessment that you’ve built on paper, you may surprise yourself with how quickly you will get fired up to devote the necessary time and effort to drive improvements that will change the course of your business trajectory.
 
What if you don’t have a solid management team to help with the process?
 
Put together your own formal or informal board of directors. Don’t let the title intimidate you. A board of directors is simply a group of willing people that you pick for their general wisdom, opinions and business acumen, who together can give you valuable input and advice on important decisions that you invite them to weigh in on.
 
Though large companies compensate their directors, many board members of smaller companies do it voluntarily for the personal satisfaction and occasional free lunches.
 
Other alternative sources for immediate help can be found in the form of business coaches or contract management consultants who are skilled at efficiently identifying your company’s immediate weaknesses and potential solutions, as well as helping you map out the best long-term game plan to fit your situation and objectives.
 
Whatever you do, don’t choose to do nothing; inaction guarantees that things will likely remain the same, or get worse.
 
Escape your own insanity.
 
Don’t keep doing things the same way, expecting that your situation will somehow get better by itself.
 
Draw inspiration from successful examples of big “turnarounds” to motivate you to do the same.
 
Use examples that you can relate to, e.g. sports teams that were regular “basement-dwellers” who, after some key changes, managed to climb their way up and become consistent contenders. These common successes all start with a better mindset (desire to fix things), better game plans (business strategy), players (staff) and coaches (owner/managers).
 
Ironically, one of the biggest obstacles in your way can be you.
 
In many cases the most practical solution comes from good outside help. Don’t be intimidated or discouraged from the thought of seeking professional assistance—it’s a common and effective practice among successful companies.
 
It’s hard to assess your own business accurately; trained outside eyes can give a more objective and realistic appraisal of your company’s strengths and weaknesses. This insight and blunt reality is critical for you to obtain and understand if you’re going to see your way clear to creating and implementing changes that will enable you to overcome the obstacles that hold your company back. 
 
There are some very good business consultants and company coaches out there that are efficient and effective at identifying, prescribing, and in some cases implementing the solutions and initiatives you need to put your company on a successful path.
 
And for those that are simply held back by their ego, remember, the creativity, action and results that you achieve through outside help are ultimately your creativity, action and results, because you sought them, approved them, and gave them what they needed to succeed.
 
You’re already committed to the race, so why not give yourself the best chance to win it?
 
 
Paet Hidalgo is CEO of Applied Mettle, Inc. He is also a former professional race car driver in IndyCar, SCCA Trans Am, ALMS and Formula 3000, among others. 

IRG Sports + Entertainment (IRGSE) has appointed sports industry veteran and former Comcast-Spectacor entity President Chris Lencheski as Vice Chairman of the Board of Managers and Chief Executive Officer.

IRGSE properties promote more than 1150 motorsports, live entertainment and corporate events annually at their venues and within their series. Lencheski will be responsible for strategic and portfolio operations of the IRGSE family of companies, including the International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) sanctioning body and the International Drag Bike League (IDBL) sanctioning body, as well as IRGSE properties: Palm Beach International Raceway (PBIR), Memphis International Raceway (MIR), Maryland International Raceway (MDIR), and Cordova International Raceway (CIR).

"I am honored to join IRGSE at this exciting time in the company's growth and transformation," said Lencheski. "Having been involved in high-level motorsports as an agency owner, team owner and a promoter of series across the world, I look forward to working closely with the entire IRGSE ecosystem, and the opportunity to help drive the future growth of the IHRA Series and all IHRA member tracks."

"We are thrilled to have such an industry leader join the IRGSE team, and look forward to Chris' expertise as the company continues down its path of growth," said Tom Steiglehner, Managing Director of TPG Specialty Lending, Inc. and IRGSE Board Member. "Chris brings to IRGSE a broad range of experience in the motorsports and entertainment fields—from his work with some of the world's premier sporting events to his success growing businesses through marketing and sales—and we are looking forward to partnering with him."

IRGSE is a portfolio company of TPG Specialty Lending, the U.S. middle market direct originations investment platform of TPG Special Situations Partners, the credit and special situations platform of TPG, a global private investment firm with approximately $75 billion in assets under management.
 
Peter Luukko; Executive Chairman, The Florida Panthers and its parent company Sunrise Sports & Entertainment, LLC stated, "From my own personal experience while he worked for me; Chris comes from the front, delivers a strategy and then simply gets on with it. He does so by aligning the goals and personnel of the company with that of the desired outcome for the client, whoever that client may be... He spends a lot of time tracking a business culture that matches the strategy for everyone's benefits."

Dr. Harvey Schiller; Commercial Commissioner, America's Cup 35 stated, "Chris Lencheski's presence will be a welcome addition to the future success of IRGSE. He has the right combination of skills to add significant value to each and every property under the IRGSE umbrella. He's a true professional in every sense of the word."

Audi will take a step up in hybrid energy with the all-new Audi R18 e-tron quattro World Endurance Championship contender it unveiled on Saturday evening. The latest turbodiesel LMP1 racer to carry the R18 e-tron quattro name will race in the six megajoule hybrid sub-class next year rather than the 4MJ division in which it competed in 2015.

Audi has abandoned the flywheel energy storage or mechanical battery system used since the arrival of the first R18 hybrid in 2012 in favor of a lithium-ion battery, the same technology used by 2015 WEC champion Porsche. The move to 6MJ should put the Audi on a par with gasoline-fueled rivals Porsche and Toyota, who will both race at 8MJ in 2016.

The innovative energy-based LMP1 rules introduced for 2014 effectively equate a 6MJ turbodiesel with an 8MJ gasoline car. The latest Audi once again pushes the boundaries on aerodynamics, as can be seen from the first photographs of the car.

Audi Sport boss Wolfgang Ullrich said, "With our new Audi R18, we're setting a clear signal: Audi continues to put the pedal to the metal in motorsport, deliberately relying on TDI—the world's most successful automotive efficiency technology—at the Le Mans 24 Hours."

The new car will begin testing in earnest at Sebring early next month.



Originally on www.autosport.com

Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) has made new appointments within its competition department as the championship-winning race team wastes no time preparing for the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.
 
‧ Michael Bugarewicz has been promoted from race engineer on the No. 4 team to crew chief for the No. 14 team of Tony Stewart. The 33-year-old from Lehighton, Pennsylvania, replaces Chad Johnston, who has left SHR to pursue a new opportunity. Bugarewicz joined SHR in 2014 where in his role as race engineer, he helped Kevin Harvick secure his first Sprint Cup championship. Bugarewicz began his NASCAR career in 2005 at Roush-Fenway Racing in the engineering department, assisting a variety of teams as a race engineer in the Camping World Truck Series, Xfinity Series and Sprint Cup Series. Before coming to SHR, Bugarewicz was the race engineer on Roush-Fenway’s No. 17 team, where he worked with Matt Kenseth (2011-2012) and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (2013). Bugarewicz graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering (2004) and a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering (2005).
 
‧ Billy Scott has been named crew chief for the No. 10 team of Danica Patrick. The 38-year-old from Land O’ Lakes, Florida, comes to SHR from Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) where since 2014 he was the crew chief for the No. 55 team, which featured drivers David Ragan, Brian Vickers and Michael Waltrip, among others. He also served as crew chief for MWR’s No. 15 team and driver Clint Bowyer from June 2015 through the end of the season. Prior to that role, Scott was a race engineer working under crew chief Rodney Childers, who joined SHR in 2014 and promptly led Harvick to the Sprint Cup championship. Scott came to MWR in 2008 after working in a variety of racing disciplines, including NASCAR, sports cars and sprint cars. It was during his work in the Truck Series in 2003 when Scott decided to focus on engineering. He attended the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering in 2005.
 
‧ Daniel Knost has been promoted to a senior leadership position within SHR. As manager of vehicle dynamics, Knost will oversee a number of the organization’s technical efforts, with a specific focus on track simulation and racecar performance. The 36-year-old from Charlotte, North Carolina, has been a crew chief at SHR for two years, spending 2014 with the No. 41 team of Kurt Busch and 2015 with the No. 10 team of Patrick. Knost joined SHR in 2008 when it was Haas-CNC Racing after earning Master of Science and doctorate degrees in mechanical engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). Knost graduated from North Carolina State University in Raleigh in 2001 with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering.
 
‧ Childers remains as crew chief for the No. 4 team of Harvick and Tony Gibson remains as crew chief for the No. 41 team of Busch.
 
“We made these changes after thoroughly evaluating our program to ensure that all four of our teams are consistently strong and competitive,” said Greg Zipadelli, vice president of competition, SHR. “In this business, you can’t rest and you can never be satisfied. You have to constantly improve. We feel these personnel changes enhance our strengths and shore up areas where we needed to be better.”
 
“We have great people at Stewart-Haas Racing and these changes prove that,” said Stewart, co-owner of SHR with Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation. “We were able to promote from within while also adding new talent.
 
“Change isn’t easy, and that’s particularly true when it comes to my relationship with Chad Johnston. He served as my crew chief during two very difficult seasons. He was always supportive and he’s become like a brother to me. I think very highly of Chad and wish him nothing but the best in his new opportunity.”
 
“We’ve come a long way in our seven years at Stewart-Haas Racing, but there is always more to do and more to achieve,” added Haas, founder of Haas Automation, the largest CNC machine tool builder in North America. “Bigger, Better, Faster, Lighter is what we strive for in the machining industry and it’s what we strive for in motorsports. These new appointments seamlessly marry our engineering expertise with our collective racing experience.”