ERIC PHILLIPS - ?/?/?
Oddly enough, instead of working his way up the ranks, for Phillips first time he would be called on to be a crew chief was at the Cup level in 2002. Joe Nemechek would supply a car for road course ringer Ron Fellows at Sonoma. They run into issues late in the event and finished 25th. As of 2023 it is his only venture into the Cup Series to date. In 2003, he led Greg Biffle for one race in the Xfinity Series; and they when the dust settled; they were sitting in victory lane at Charlotte. Phillips climbed on top one other time in 2003. It was again in the Xfinity Series, but this time with driver Joe Nemechek. Just like with Biffle, when the checkered hankie fell, they were in the winners circle. In 2004, Phillips went to work for little known owner Alexander Meshkin, in his first venture in the truck series. He was paired with driver Travis Kvapil. They won twice that year, and had five top fives as they finished eighth in the points. Meshkin would also field a truck for Mike Skinner that season. It was the only year the owner fielded a vehicle in any NASCAR series. Phillip went to work for David Dollar in 2005; and called the shots for driver Dennis Setzer. They had a great season, claiming
four wins and ten top fives in 25 starts. That was a great season, but they could only manage a second place in points, as Ted Musgrave claimed the title. Phillips remained with Dollar in 2006; but was swapped between different drivers on Dollars team. He was paired with Clint Bowyer for two races, and they won at Texas. 2007 and 2008 was much like the previous year as Phillips worked with multiple drivers employed by Dollar. The bevy of drivers only produced one top five. 2009 saw Phillips tire of trying to lead a series of drivers, and went to work for Randy Moss as he led Mike Skinner full time. Skinner would win on three occasions, and finish third in points. By this time Kyle Busch had formed Kyle Busch Motorsports, and Phillips was hired to head up the efforts of Kyle. The duo ran just 16 of 24 races; but compiled eight wins, and 13 top five finishes. In 2011, Busch again ran 16 races; and went to the winners circle six times. Denny Hamlin and Kasey Kahne also drove the truck and added a win each. Phillips served as crew chief for NASCAR on NBC analyst Parker Kligerman in KBM’s Xfinity Series program in 2013. The duo had three top five finishes, with a best of third at Road America. When KBM was forced to shut that program down and focus solely on its two-team program in the Truck Series, Phillips said he was asked by Busch to help on the latter effort. While wanting to continue on the Xfinity circuit, he ultimately decided to stay with the KBM Truck team to take care of, in his words, “unfinished business.” In 2014, Kyle Busch and Erik Jones split the time in the truck. Jones won on three occasions, while Busch would win seven times. Phillips felt he had accomplished what he set out to do, so at the end of the 2014 season, Phillips, by now the winningest crew chief in Truck Series history with 36 victories, announced he would be moving on. He moved to Joe Gibbs Racing to work with driver Daniel Suarez in the Xfinity Series in 2015. Their best finish on the year was a second at Bristol, and they had eight top fives, finishing in fifth place in points. In 2016 Phillips did not hold the position of crew chief; but he resumed those duties in 2017. He was back with Joe Gibbs and worked on the #18, "All Star" Xfinity car. The car driven periodically by the JGR Cup drivers and assorted others. Christopher Bell got a win at Kansas, and had three top fives in five races. Denny Hamlin made one start and would win at Darlington. Kyle Busch also made five starts; and won on four occasions. 2018 saw Ryan Preece make the majority of the starts in the #18 car, He ran 15 races and would win at Bristol. Kyle Busch made six starts and won at Pocono. 2019 and 2020 again saw Phillips not leading a driver in the NASCAR Series, but in 2021 he was back with KBM working with driver John Hunter Nemechek. The pair would win five times; but Nemechek finished seventh in the Championship race at Phoenix, third in points. Eric Phillips again paired with John Hunter Nemechek in 2022, back again at KBM. They season started off rocky with finishes of 24th, 25th and 24th to start the season. They righted the ship and went on a roll after that as Phillips led Nemechek to seven straight finishes of no worse than sixth. Included in that span was a win at Darlington. Seven of the next nine races, saw then finish in the top ten, and claim a win at Kansas. The win at Kansas can in the second round of the Chase and locked him into the semi-final round. However; they run into bad luck in that round, and finishes of 12th, 24th and 35 eliminated them from advancing to the final four. The duo finished fifth in the season points standings, and had two wins, ten top five and 15 top ten finishes in 23 starts. For his career, Phillips has led his drivers to 44 wins in the Truck Series and 100 top fives. In the Xfinity series he has ten wins and 40 top fives.
All Photos copyright and are property of their respective owners