MICHAEL  "WHEELS"  WHEELER   -   11/04/1978

also known by his nickname 'Wheels', is an American racing crew chief.  Wheeler attended Kettering University to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering.  He graduated from the college in 2002.  Wheeler got his first start as a NASCAR crew chief in the Cup series in 2014.  He worked for owner Joe Gibbs, with driver Denny Hamlin, filling in for chief Darian Grubb after he was suspended for six races by NASCAR.  They pair clicked as they worked six races together and posted three Top 10 finishes.  Wheeler was made crew chief of Joe Gibbs Racing's #20 Xfinity Series entry before the start of the 2015 season.  He did a fair amount of adjusting during the season, as JGR rotated through eight drivers.  Wheeler scored nine pole positions, four wins, one with Erik Jones and three with Denny Hamlin.  Hamlin, Jones and Matt Kenseth all scored five or more Top 10 finishes. Wheeler was named crew chief for Hamlin before the start of the 2016 season after serving as his race engineer for several seasons.  According to both parties, Hamlin had promised Wheeler his head crew chief job 

six or seven years before he finally got the job.  In the first race of the season, Wheeler shepherded Hamlin to a win in the 2016 Daytona 500.  They would claim two additional wins that season and finish sixth in points.  2017 saw Hamlin win twice and again finish sixth in points.  Hamlin and Wheeler got off to a good start in 2018. The first five races they had a worst finish of 17th; with the other finishes all being inside the top six. Overall Hamlin didn't have a bad season posting ten Top 5's and 17 Top 10's. The major disappointment was that for the first time in his career, he failed to win a race in a season where he competed full time. He finished second two times; and made the Chase. He was eliminated after the first round of the Chase.  For 2019, Wheeler went to the Leavine Family Racing team to lead driver Matt DiBenedetto.  DiBenedetto and Wheeler had a rough season. Even though Leavine Family Racing got technical support from Joe Gibbs Racing; they still didn't have all the latest stuff.  Still, DiBenedetto did almost win at Bristol when he was strong and led a lot of laps late in the race.  Coming down to the last few laps; DiBenedetto was trying to lap Ryan Newman and Newman got into him and it messed up the handling on his car a little.  This was just enough to cost Matt a little time every lap and with just two laps to go Denny Hamlin passed DiBenedetto denying him of his first win.  The pair ran stronger the later into the season they went.  The last nine races they only had two finishes worse than 15th.  He had three Top 5 and seven Top 10 finishes on the season.  In 2020 JGR made Wheeler the competition director for the organization.  In late 2020 he was offered the job of crew chief for the newly formed 23XI Racing owned by NBA star Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin.  He will called the shots for driver Bubba Wallace in 2021 most of the season.  After 28 races in the Cup Series, Wheeler was promoted to Director of Competition for 23XI.

 

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