JERRY BAXTER - 08/30/1958
Baxter got his first shot at calling the shots in the Cup Series. In 1986 and 1987 he was he lead wrench for the four races at the road course at Riverside. He didn't sit atop the box any more until 1999 and 2000 when he led drivers in a total of eight races. Then he had another time span where he wasn't a crew chief; but hooked up with driver Michael Waltrip and the paired together for eleven races in 2004 in the Xfinity Series. Waltrip got Baxter his first Top 10 finish when Michael was able to finish tenth at Darlington. He was back again with Michael Waltrip in 2006 and Waltrip was able to wheel the #99 car to get Baxter his first Top 5 finish at Charlotte. A couple other drivers also drove the #99 that season among them David Reutimann. In 2007, Baxter was hired to lead the efforts of Reutimann and race full time. They worked for Michael Waltrip as he was now an owner in the Xfinity Series, while still a full time driver in the Cup series. Reutimann got Baxter his first ever win when he got a win at Memphis Motorsports Park. They finished second in the season points. They paired together again in 2008; but with less success and was seventh in points. Waltrip had various drivers behind the wheel of
the #99 in 2009. Scott Speed ran the most races (13) and he had eight Top 10 finishes. 2010 saw Trevor Bayne behind the wheel for 28 of the season races; while Martin Truex and Ryan Truex each drove a few races. Bayne finished third twice and had five Top 5 finishes. In 2011 the car was just ran part time and Baxter led various drivers in 16 events. Ryan Truex posted a best finish of eighth. 2012 saw Baxter move to work under owner Eddie Sharp and driver Cale Gale. Gale got a win at Homestead giving Baxter his first Truck series win. In 2013 Baxter moved again; this time to work for Kyle Busch Motorsports. He paired with Bubba Wallace and the duo got a win at Martinsville. They remained together for 2014, and the duo put together four wins and finished third in points. Baxter remained with KBM in 2015 and had an "all star" cast of drivers who wheeled the #54 truck. Daniel Suarez drove 15 races posting seven Top 5's. Kyle Busch drove three times and won on two occasions. Christopher Bell was Baxters driver in 2016 for KBM. He won at Gateway International Speedway outside St Louis and finished third in points. 2017 saw Baxter move over to work for Maury Gallagher and lead the efforts of Kaz Grala full time in the Truck Series. Grala would kick off the season with the win at Daytona; and have five Top 5 finishes as he finished seventh in points. In 2018, Gallagher Motorsports fielded a truck with various drivers. Cody Coughlin drove 16 races while Tyler Dippel ran four times while Timothy Peters raced in three events. Peters would win at Talladega. In 2019 Brett Moffitt ran full time in the #24 truck and would visit victory lane four times; finishing third in the season points. This left Baxter with 15 wins in the Truck Series. In 2020, Baxter was hired by Richard Petty Motorsports to call the shots for Bubba Wallace in the Cup Series. Wallace only had one Top 5 finish on the season, with a best finish of fifth at Daytona. For 2021, Baxter remained at RPM and work with driver Erik Jones. Erik was hired to replace Wallace who had left to go drive for 23XI Racing. Jones struggled driving the #43 Richard Petty Motorsports car, as they were still a one car operation and didn’t have the resources of the bigger teams. Jones was able to post eight Top 10 finishes on the season with a best finish of seventh in the Indy Grand Prix. Dave Elenz has been named to be Jones crew chief in 2022, and in November of 2021, it was announced that Baxter would join David Gilliland Racing to lead the #15 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series entry with driver Tanner Gray for the 2022 season. It will mark Gray’s third full-time year, and first under the guidance of Baxter. The duo kicked off the season in fine fashion. They opened at Daytona with a nice fourth place run; before adding a fifth and eighth the next two weeks. They finished on the lead lap the first twelve races except for a crash at Gateway. They had another top ten at Pocono; but just missed making it into the play-offs. The team swapped crew chiefs with six races to go in the season as Baxter was sent to lead up Hailie Deegan and see if they could help with her season long struggles. It seemed to help as Deegan was able to post a 17th; 14th and seventh in three of the last four events. David Gilliland Racing is changing it's name to TRICON Garage and swapping from Ford to Toyota. Things didn’t go as planned for Baxter in 2023. It was thought that Baxter would remain with Deegan in 2023; but Deegan left to drive for ThorSport Racing. Baxter ended up paired with Bret Holmes for 17 races in the Truck series working for owner Stacy Holmes. They had a season best 13th finish at Atlanta. Added 14th place runs at Kansas and St Louis, and had a 15th place run at North Wilkesboro. Baxter left after 17 events; and Holmes only ran 21 races on the season. For his career Baxter has led his drivers to 226 Truck starts. He has 16 wins, including four with Bubba Wallace and four with Brett Moffitt. In the Xfinity series he’s made 194 starts with two wins. One with Michael Waltrip and one with David Reutimann. He only led a team two season in the Cup series, those coming in 2020 and 2021. Wallace earned a top five finish with him when he finished fifth at Daytona.
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