Drew Blickensderfer kicked off his 48th birthday with a new job—as crew chief for Front Row Motorsports and driver Noah Gragson.
The Decatur, Illinois, native returns to FRM following a three-year stint at the now-defunct Stewart-Haas Racing.
Blickensderfer will start his 27th year in NASCAR and his 18th season as a crew chief when the Cup Series rolls into Bowman Gray Stadium for the 2025 Clash.
“Bob (Jenkins, team owner) and I have always have always had a great relationship from when I worked here before and when I left,” Blickensderfer said. “There are opportunities for me at Front Row that I probably would not have received at other places. I can keep advancing my career and I can do the things that I like to do in this sport.
“The other part is the untapped potential I see in Noah Gragson. I think he is a diamond in the rough on Sunday. His ability to drive a race car is unbelievable. I think he needs some stability around him, and he hasn’t had that in the last couple of years with SHR shutting down this year and everything that happened to him (at Legacy Motor Club) last year. Stability is a big thing for his comfort level, and I love being a part of that with that kid.”
While Blickensderfer enjoyed moderate success with FRM from 2019 to 2021 with Michael McDowell, Jenkins and GM Jerry Freeze have worked diligently to make the operation more competitive. Certainly, updating the driver ranks with younger talent such as Gragson (and ultimately Zane Smith once the sale of a third charter has been approved) will brighten the company’s future.
But from a technical standpoint, the dynamic changed dramatically with the advent of the NextGen cars in 2022. Front Row Motorsports enhanced its’ technical alliance with Team Penske and became a Tier 1 team with Ford Performance over the last year.
Clearly, Blickensderfer is encouraged by the possibilities.
“When everything started happening at Stewart-Haas, I started talking to people, people reached out to me and it came down to where could I go that I’d be the happiest—and Front Row was one of those places,” Blickensderfer told Catchfence.com. “I was happy. I was happy trying to change the culture, to run better.
“Some of the frustrations I had at Front Row had been taken care of by the NextGen car. The lack of wind tunnel time that we had—the zero amount of wind tunnel time—against the guys you were trying to compete against in steel body cars, and now their alliance with Team Penske and upgraded relationship with Ford have taken away those challenges you had trying to perform at a higher level.”
Blickensderfer enjoyed a successful run at Roush Racing from 2006 to 2011 where he guided Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards and David Ragan to Victory Lane. He’s called two Daytona 500 victories—first with Kenseth in 2009 and most recently with Michael McDowell in 2021.
Following three years with McDowell at Front Row, Blickensderfer rejoined Aric Almirola for his final two Cup seasons at SHR. Last year, when Gragson replaced Almirola in the No. 10 Ford at Stewart-Haas, he and Blickensderfer found instant respect for each other.
“I wouldn’t have taken this job if he was just a friendly kid that I liked that could drive race cars,” Blickensderfer said. “Noah is both. A kid I like and a kid that can drive with the best of them on Sunday. We just have to put him in the right spot to do that.”
Gragson admits, “It’s big,” having someone like Blickensderfer on his side as he transitions to the new people and systems at FRM.
“When you come into an organization—for example, this year at Stewart-Haas—I knew four people, Cole Custer, Riley Herbst, Chase Briscoe and Josh Berry,” Gragson said. “But I really didn’t know anyone else on the team. Coming in as a stranger with these 300 employees, you’re learning names for the first month. You’re just trying to spend as much time with people and trying to develop relationships, trying to develop communication.
“With Drew, this year working with him, we came from us trying to learn each other and when I say, ’I’m a three-out-of-10 loose, the back is coming out,’ from Aric the year before, it could have been a six-out-of-10 for Aric. The scale is different for every driver. Just the time spent together, learning that communication and building that chemistry is key.”
Gragson scored a career-best third-place Cup result at Talladega Superspeedway with Blickensderfer as well as a season-high seven top 10s. The 26-year-old racer shaved nearly nine positions from his average finish, ending the season with a 19.6.
“Going into next year, being able to start off having some familiarity with Drew and a couple of the crew guys is definitely important,” Gragson said. “I think it will be a lot more efficient since he has been there before.
“There’s still going to be a lot to learn. I’m going to have to learn a lot of people’s names and how they operate, but I’m not going in cold turkey. With Drew, I will have a head start.”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
