JAMES SMALL - ?/?/?
Small came onto the scene suddenly. He had not done a bunch of crew chiefing at lower divisions as most other chiefs do. In fact the only other two times he had lead a driver was in 2017 when he filled in for Chris Gayle served a two race suspension in 2017. He worked with Eric Jones at that time. Small served as Martine Truex’s lead engineer for several years. Then at the end of 2019, Truex’s crew chief Cole Pearn, suddenly announced he was retiring. One week after Pearn announced he was leaving Joe Gibbs Racing as crew chief on Truex’s #19 Toyota Camry, the organization announced that Melbourne, Australia native James Small had been promoted from Truex’s lead engineer to Pearn’s replacement as crew chief. Prior to coming to the U.S. and NASCAR, Small spent eight years working in his native Australia in the V8 Supercars Championship. His first role in NASCAR was in an engineering role from 2014-2016 with Richard Childress Racing. In 2020, Small led Truex to one win, and of course it was the first win for Small as a crew chief. 2021 saw much improvement as the pair found victory lane four times. They had 13 Top 5 and 20 Top 10 finishes. They made it to the final race of the season, in contention to claim the Cup Championship. However, Kyle Larson had a better car late in the race and won. Truex would finish second.
James Small and Martin Truex paired together for the third straight year. After four wins the previous season; big things were expected for the #19 JGR team. But as it played out; it seemed whatever could go wrong; did go wrong. Most races throughout the regular season they finished inside the top twelve if they didn't have mechanical issues or be involved in a crash. He led 80 laps at Richmond; finishing fourth in stage one and winnings stage two. But green flag pit strategy by Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick saw them make the right call and finish first and second. Truex was fourth. At Nashville, Truex led 82 laps and won both stage one and stage two. Truex's pit crew got him out slow and he never managed to get back to the front. At Loudon he was dominant, again winning the first two stages, and leading 172 laps. But an error on pit road got him out of the pits late and he was never able to recover; finishing fourth. Without a win they failed to make it into the Chase. At Darlington, he had a winning car and led many laps; when late in the race his water pump failed. His steering locked up a Bristol, and he blew a tire while leading the next race at Texas. Finally while leading late in the race a yellow flag flew and everyone headed for pit road. Truex was leading coming down pit road; when he almost missed his pit stall and slowed suddenly. The car following him run into him, and spun him out into his pit stall. It was late in the race and he never recovered. For the year the duo had four top fives and 15 top tens. They was back together in 2023, and had a much better 2023 than they had the previous season. Truex won at Dover and broke a 54 race win-less streak. They won again at Sonoma and added another win at Loudon NH. When the playoffs started most of their finishes were 17th or worse. Somehow, they managed to advance through to the Round of 8. A 29th place finish at Miami when the motor blew put them in a bad points position and a must-win situation at Martinsville. They could finish no better than 12th and were eliminated. For the season they had three wins, nine top five and 17 top ten finishes. For his career Small’s drivers have had eight wins and 40 top five finishes.
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