Ryan Blaney with different crew chief for Talladega
Defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney will have a different crew chief for the GEICO 500 Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway.
Jonathan Hassler, his usual crew chief, is out after the birth of his daughter. Hassler will be helping the team from its command center in a remote role while team engineer Tony Palmer will fill-in atop the pit box.
“He obviously works with Jonathan every single weekend and through the week and obviously Travis Geisler being the competition director and ex-crew chief he knows everything, so I’m really comfortable with those guys,” Blaney said.
“I’m happy Jonathan can be there for his daughter and enjoy his time at home and take that all in.”
Hasslar has served as Blaney’s crew chief since 2022, earning the 2022 All-Star victory, and three wins last season en route to Blaney’s first championship.
Prior to pairing with Blaney, Hassler served as crew chief for the second-half of the 2021 season with Matt DiBenedetto at Wood Brothers Racing.
The GEICO 500 will be Palmer’s debut as a crew chief in any of NASCAR’s top-three touring series.
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Dominic Aragon View All
Dominic Aragon is currently the editor-in-chief for The Racing Experts.
From Grants, New Mexico, USA, Aragon started watching NASCAR in 2004 and has been covering the sport since 2009. Aragon is a 2012 graduate of Grants High School and a May 2016 graduate of the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Mass Communications & Journalism. Aragon has worked in local and national media, as a musician, and an educator. He is co-author of the 2024 book "All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story" with racer Geoff Bodine.
Aragon, his wife Feliz, and son Christopher currently reside in Grants, New Mexico, USA.
You can reach Dominic at daragon@theracingexperts.net.