KENNY FRANCIS - 12/01/1969
is an American NASCAR crew chief. He began his racing career at the age of eight, by racing go-karts. He continued to drive the race car until 1996 when he began working on engines for Butch Mock Motorsports. While racing the go-karts, he managed to win a state championship. Afterward, Francis moved to regional and national circuits. During the late 1980s, he began racing late model stock cars, while being educated about mechanical engineering at the University of Florida. In 1996, Francis stopped driving the car, and began working on the engines for a local team racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. While working with the team, he learned about fabrication, and the set ups of the cars. Two years later, Francis moved to North Carolina. Also in 1998, he began working with Rick Mast at Burtch Mock
Motorsports. After one year working with the team, Francis was hired by Robert Yates Racing to work on Dale Jarret's team. During the season, his team won four races, as well as the 1999 NASCAR Cup Series championship. He remained with the team until the end of the 2000 season. During the season, his team won four races, as well as the 1999 Cup Series championship. He remained with the team until the end of the 2000 season, when he was offered to become the team engineer at Evernham Motorsports for Bill Elliott. He became a crew chief for the first time in the 2003 season, he was promoted and became the crew chief and team director for Jeremy Mayfield. By the 2004 season, Francis helped the team to make the Chase for the Cup Championship in its first year and win a race. In 2005, he only sit atop the pit box on four occasions. During the following season, he became the crew chief for Kasey Kahne and got a win at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the spring. At the end of the season, his team was able to record six wins and finish eighth in the points. Francis and Kahne failed to win a race, as George Gillette became part owner in 2007. During 2008, Francis continued to work with Kahne, and won two races: the Sprint All-Star Race and Coca-Cola 600. Afterward, Richard Petty became partial owner of the team, renaming it to Richard Petty Motorsports. During the season, they again recorded two wins, and finished tenth in points. In 2010 Kahne decided to leave Richard Petty Motorsports to race for Red Bull Racing Team; Francis decided to follow Kahne where they visited victory lane once during their tenure at Red Bull Racing. For the 2012 season, Kahne moved to Hendrick Motorsports. Still with Francis, Kahne won two races and recorded a career best fourth place finish in the final points standings. As the 2013 season closed Kahne collected two more wins, and once again made the Chase. In 2014 the duo would once ago win once. After 2013 Francis assumed the new position of vehicle technical director at Hendrick Motorsports. It ended the streak of being the crew chief for Kasey Kahne since the final race of 2005 and worked with Kahne at three different organizations. As 2015 rolled around and Chase Elliott joined Rick Hendrick Motorsports; Francis became the new young drivers crew chief for the five races he ran. In 2016 Francis would crawl atop the pit box for the final time as of 2018 at Loudon NH. Chase Elliotts regular crew chief had been suspended for one race after a post-race infraction after the race at Chicagoland. Alan Gustafson had made every single start in the Cup Series as crew chief for Hendrick since the 2005 Daytona 500 (459 races ago). Sunday's race at Loudon was the first race he'd ever missed in his 13th season as crew chief. For his career Francis has led his drivers to 17 Cup wins; including the Coke 600 three times; 2006, 2008 and 2012.
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