STEVE  HMIEL   -   12/14/?

Was a NASCAR Cup winning crew chief.  It is often stated that he is the most successful crew chief to have not won a Cup Championship.  His career started as the head wrench in 1985 calling the shots for Terry Labonte.  They paired up for one win working for owner Billy Hagan.  They won again for Hagan in 1986, but in 1987 Labonte moved on to drive for Junior Johnson.  Sterling Marlin was brought in to replace Labonte, but they were unable to produce any results as Marlin only had three top ten finishes.  They parted ways and Hmiel didn't crew chief again until 1992 when he paired up with Jack Roush and driver Mark Martin.  This would be the heyday of Hmiel's career as he led the versatile Martin to 13 wins over a four year span, and finished second in the Cup championship in 1994; getting beat out by a dominant Dale Earnhardt Sr.  From 1992-1996 he would finish no worse than sixth in the series points. Jimmy Fennig would be brought in to lead Martin in 1997 as Hmiel would assume other duties with

Roush.  In 1998 Steve was named crew chief for Roush driverJohnny Benson, but they had limited success.  Hmiel moved to Dale Earnhardt Inc into a management position in 1999, but was called on to fill in for one race as a crew chief after Steve Parks lead man Phillippe Lopez resigned.  After the tragic death of Dale Earnhardt Sr in 2001, DEI was reeling.  Once again Hmiel had to come out of his management position to head up Michael Waltrip's team and finish the season, as he assumed the crew chief duties from Scott Eggleston.  The same thing occurred in 2002 as Hmiel had to come out of the front office to take over crew chief duties from Paul Andrews for driver Steve Park.  At the end of the 2004 season Michael Waltrip and his team mate Dale Earnhardt Jr swapped teams and shops.  They struggled all season until Hmiel returned to a crew chief role to lead Earnhardt Jr.  Within seven races Hmiel had Earnhardt Jr back in victory lane as he won the race at Chicagoland.  For his career, Hmiel had led his drivers to 16 wins as a crew chief.  Probably the most notable win is the Southern 500 in 1993 with Mark Martin.  In 1993 Hmiel also led Mark Martin who drove part time in the Xfinity Series.  They ran 14 races and won an amazing seven of them.

 

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