TODD T PARROTT - 02/09/1964
an American stock car racing crew chief. Parrott is the son of former Richard Petty crew chief Buddy Parrott and a brother of former Carl Edwards crew chief Brad Parrott. Parrott's first crew chief position was working for Ernie Irvan in 1995 at Yates Racing. In his time at Yates he has also worked with Dale Jarrett, Elliott Sadler and David Gilliland. In 1995 he and Ervin were only able to post one Top 10 result. He remained with Yates Racing the following season; but was paired up with driver Dale Jarrett. The marriage proved fruitful as they won four times that season; including the major events of the Daytona 500; World 600 and Brickyard 400. They finished third in points. 1997 saw continued success as they won seven events the next season but still fell short of the Championship; finishing second. The next season they still proved to be a formidable force as they won three times and again finished third in points. 1999 would see them finally achieve their goal of claiming the Cup Championship. They won on four occasions (again winning at the Brickyard), posted 24 Top 6 results and beat Bobby Labonte by over 200 points to claim the
title. 2000 saw them again claim the Harley Earl trophy for again winning the Daytona; but fall to fourth in points. Parrott remained Jarrett's crew chief through 2002. They won a total of six more times but didn’t finish better than fifth in the points. After 2002, Parrott worked for periods with several Yates drivers including Jarrett, Elliott Sadler, Travis Kvapil, and David Gilliland. In 2006, Parrot was briefly crew chief for Bobby Labonte at Petty Enterprises before returning to Yates to work with Gilliland. 2007 saw him lead Gilliland full time; while in 2008 he called the shots for Kvapil. After the 2008 season, Parrott was moved to former Joe Gibbs Racing satellite Hall of Fame Racing, which would begin operating out the Yates shop in 2009. The driver was Bobby Labonte, but once again Parrott and Labonte failed to make it through a full season, while Yates Racing folded following 2009. He was working the speedway program in the Research and Development department of Roush Fenway Racing prior to joining Kenseth on the #17 in 2010. After a poor performance at the 2010 Daytona 500, Parrott replaced Drew Blickensderfer as crew chief for the rest of the season. Midway through the season however Parrott was released; he joined Richard Petty Motorsports starting at Chicagoland Speedway as crew chief for Elliott Sadler's #19. He moved to the #9 team and driver Marcos Ambrose to start the 2011 season; two-thirds through the 2012 season, RPM's teams switched crew chiefs with Parrott going to the #43 of Aric Almirola, where he remained for 2013. On October 17, 2013, it was announced that Parrott had been indefinitely suspended due to failing to meet NASCAR's substance abuse policy. He was released by Richard Petty Motorsports on October 21. Parrott participated in NASCAR's Road to Recovery program for substance abuse violators, and the suspended veteran crew chief vowed to return to the sport's top level. Parrott was reinstated to NASCAR in January 2014, less than three months after being suspended. He was hired by Tommy Baldwin Racing to lead Reed Sorenson. The pair was only able to post a best finish of 14th and only had two Top 20 finishes. On December 13, 2014, it was announced that Parrott would be the Competition Director for Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Parrott was also named the crew chief on RCR's part-time #33 Cup Series car, working nine races for drivers Ty Dillon, Michael Annett, and Brian Scott. Parrott also substituted for Luke Lambert on the RCR #31 Cup car of Ryan Newman for six races, while Lambert served a suspension. In 2016 Parrott went to work for Levine Family Racing with driver Michael McDowell. In seven starts that season the did post one Top 10 finish in the #95 K-Love car. 2017 saw them post a best finish of fourth; the only Top 5 of that year. In 2018 Parrott is working with owner Jay Robinson as he fields a variety of drivers in his #55 Premium Motorsports machines. Robinson fielded a team that used seven different drivers with Parrott in charge. Jeffery Earnhardt posted a best of eleventh in the July Daytona race. Only one of race saw a finish inside the Top 30 as this was mostly a start and park effort. In 2020, Parrott spent his time working with owners Rick Ware and B.J. McLeod. Both teams are very underfunded and not very competitive. Five different drivers drove for the two owners and none of the posted a Top 10 finish. In fact the best finish by any driver was 22nd by McLeod at Indianapolis. They only had two other Top 30 finishes. For 2021 McLeod and Matt Tifft have went in and bought a Cup charter and will field a new team. Parrott had been hired to lead the team. The driver will be Jesse Little and it will be car #78. The team will again be underfunded; but plans for 2021 is to just get their feet wet and learn the ropes of the Cup series. They anticipate being much more competitive in 2022 when the new NextGen car starts being raced. To date Parrott has 31 race wins, 26 of those with Dale Jarrett, three with Elliott Sadler, and two with Marcus Ambrose. Major wins include the Daytona 500 (1996 & 2000); Coke 600 (1996); Brickyard 400 (1996 & 2000); He and Jarrett paired for seven wins in 1997, and the Cup Championship in 1999. From 1996-2001 Parrott led is drivers to Top 5 finishes in the points.
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