MATT MCCALL - 07/03/1981
currently a NASCAR crew chief, McCall first got involved as a driver. McCall began racing at the age of nine, running go-karts. At the age of thirteen, he moved to the adult leagues, collecting over 150 wins, before moving to the World Karting Association Dirt Series. During that time, McCall collected the WKA's Most Improved Driver and Grand National Champion awards. McCall's major racing debut came in 1999, when began running Super Sport races at Hickory Motor Speedway, finishing fourth in points. The next year, he won Rookie of the Year and Mechanic of the Year awards. In 2006, he made his debut in the ARCA Re/MAX Series at Daytona, where he started and finished second. He also ran five Busch races for Yates, his best finish being a 24th at Bristol Motor Speedway. He was released after the season; he then joined Richard Childress Racing as an engineer, while racing in regional events and graduating from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2003 with a degree in engineering. In 2013, McCall acted as interim crew chief for Jeff
Burton in the Brickyard 400; later in the year he returned to on-track competition, driving the#92 Chevrolet for RBR Enterprises in the NASCAR Truck Series' UNOH 200 at Bristol, finishing 22nd in the event. After the 2014 season with Richard Childress Racing, he left to become the crew chief for Jamie McMurray starting in 2015. The duo posted four Top 5 finishes, with two of those being second place results. They qualified for the Chase but were eliminated after the first round. 2016 was worse than the previous year as McMurry had a best finish of fourth and only two Top 5's. Again he made the Chase; but once again was eliminated in the first round. Chip Ganassi kept the pair together again for 2017; and although they only had three Top 5 finishes; they did put together 17 results where they finished in the Top 10. On the strength of all those top 10 results they again made the Chase. This time they made it through the first round; but was eliminated at the end of the second round. 2018 proved to be the worst season for the duo yet.
McMurray only had two Top 5 finishes and eight Top 10's. This year the failed to make it to the Chase. Chip Ganassi released McMurray at the end of 2018; and offered him a ride for the 2019 Daytona 500; and a job with Chip Ganassi Racing after that. Still with his job as a full time crew chief; McCall still makes time to get behind the wheel and race on occasion. On November 25th, 2018 McCall traded in his pit box for a seat behind a Late Model stock car; and won the Thanksgiving Classic at Southern National Motorsports Park. After getting caught up in a multi-car incident toward the midway point of the 200-lap event, McCall worked his way up from the rear of the field, passing Deac McCaskill with three laps to go to take the victory. This was the second year in a row that McCall had won this race. For 2019 Kurt Busch was brought in to drive
the #1 car and be paired up with McCall. The pair came out of the box strong after getting past the crap shoot that is the Daytona 500. Busch posted finishes of 12th or better in the next nine races with a runner up finish at Bristol. They also finished second at Michigan before breaking through and getting their first win together at Kentucky. It was McCall's first win as a crew chief. When the first round of the Chase rolled around, Busch had dismal results. A crash at Las Vegas left him in 39th place with a large hole to dig out of. The next week he finished 18th at Michigan and when they finished 20th at the Roval in Charlotte they were eliminated from chase contention. They ended up 13 in the season points. Busch signed a new two year contract to drive for Ganassi at the end of 2019 so they were back together in 2020. McCall and Kurt had much the same season they had in 2019. Each season they had one win. Busch was able to achieve a long time goal, and win a Cup race at his home town track at Las Vegas. Busch made his way through the various rounds of the Chase, and was finally eliminated just before the Championship race at Phoenix. He finished tenth in the points while amassing seven Top 5 and 19 Top 10 finishes. In 2021, Busch and McCall would get a win at Atlanta. They had six Top 5 finishes and 14 Top 10’s. They had finishes of 37th and 19th and failed to advance out of Round one of the Chase. Busch moved to drive for 23XI Racing in 2022, and McCall went to Team Penske to call the shots for Brad Keselowski. Keselowski bought part ownership in Roush Fenway Racing, and went there to drive the cars and offer first had suggestions, to try and show some improvement to RFK Racing as a whole. The organization had been struggling for so long; it was going to be an uphill battle to get either car in victory lane. Both cars ran good at various points of the season; and looked like they might win at times. Without a win; the duo did not qualify for the Chase in 2022. Keselowski's best run was in the Chase as he finished fifth at Homestead. They had just six top tens; but all the race teams in the organization showed improvement down the stretch; with Chris Buescher getting a win at Bristol. McCall and Keselowski was together in 2023 looking to generate some magic. In the two years since Brad Keselowski has moved to RFK Racing; the teams have shown improvement. Keselowski’s teammate got three wins in 2023; but Brad was just close on several occasions. McCall saw Keselowski almost grab a win at Atlanta when they finished second. Another second place would come at Daytona in August. For the year they had seven top five and 16 top ten finishes. McCall has three wins in the Cup series; all with Kurt Busch – one each in 2019, 2020, and 2021. Brad and Matt will be together again in 2024.
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