SETH  BARBOUR  -  ?/?/?

first broke into NASCAR as an Xfinity series crew chief for Roush Fenway Racing, and their driver Chris Buescher in 2013.  He worked with six different drivers that season and in 2014 became the full time crew chief for Ryan Reed.  They had a season best finish of fourth at Daytona.  2015 saw the pair win the season opening Daytona race; the first for both driver and crew chief.  But the season went poorly, and after 20 races the decision was made to swap crew chiefs.  Barbour left go to lead Bubba Wallace; while Chad Norris was brought in to finish out the season with Reed.  Barbour stayed with Wallace all of 2016 the pair posted three top five finishes; including a second at Dover. He moved to work for owner Bob Jenkins and Front Row Motorsports after he was brought in mid-season of 2017 to lead driver Landon Cassill.  He was switched from leading Cassill, moving over to head up the efforts of David Ragan in 2018.  They had a best finish of sixth; their only top ten of the year.  2019 saw Seth head up the efforts of three different drivers in the Cup Series.  The season kicked off with Barbour working with David Ragan.  The team didn't perform as well as expected and only posted three top twenty finishes in the first twenty races of the season with a season best of 15th in the Coke 600.  At that points a decision was made to swap Barbour and Mike Kelley.  Kelley had been 

team mate Matt Tiffts crew chief up to this point.  Tifft and Barbour were consistent as they usually finished between 23rd and 28th. They had a best finish of 13th at Talladega.  At Martinsville Tifft suffered a seizure just before the weekend was set to start and had to be taken to the hospital.  Matt Crafton drove that weekend and John Hunter Nemechek was brought in to drive the season last three races as Tifft's replacement.  The pair seemed to work together smoothly as the first race out Nemechek finished 21st.  It was Nemecheks first career Cup start.  He finished 27th and 23rd the other two starts.  For 2020 John Hunter Nemechek is going to return to drive for the team and run for Rookie of the Year.  Premium Motorsports fielded three cars in 2019; but with Tifft's questionable health issues and David Ragan retiring from Cup racing at the end of the 2019 season, the team decided to contract back to a two car operation.  Barbour was paired with John Hunter Nemechek full time in 2020.  He ran for Rookie of the Year against a very tough group of rookies; including Tyler Reddick; Cole Custer and Christopher Bell.  Nemechek showed flashes of greatness and run well at tracks where Premium Motorsports seem to always do well.  Barbour led Nemechek to three Top 10 finishes on the season; with a eighth place result in both races at Talladega.  This leaves Barbour with four Top 10 finishes in four seasons atop the box.  Near the end of the 2020 season Nemechek announced he would not be back to drive for the team and would look for other opportunities.  The 2021 season saw Anthony Alfredo in the seat of the #38 and Barbour still calling the shots.  Alfredo had a bad season as it was his Rookie year; and the team was still under funded.  Alfredo managed to post just one Top 10 finish; coming at Talladega. Another rookie was called in to wheel the #38 for 2022.  Todd Gilliland was at the controls while Barbour called the shots.  It was the best results so far as Gilliland was able to get Seth his first top five finish; coming at the road course at Indianapolis.  He added another top ten finish at Talladega.  They had 11 finishes inside the top 20.  Barbour will change positions within the Front Row Motorsports organization in 2023.  He will oversee all track engineering and car preparation processes for both FRM race entries.  Gilliland's new crew chief has not been announced at this time.

 

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