STEVEN J "STEVE" ADDINGTON - 07/04/1964 -
an American NASCAR Sprint Cup crew chief. He got his start as crew chief in the Xfinity Series in 1993 called the shots for Jason Keller for that one season, running a partial schedule. Addington didn't crew chief again until 1999 and again hooked up with Keller. They remained together for the next five seasons and racked up nine wins in that span. In 2004 moved to Joe Gibbs Racing to work with Mike Bliss. They won one time in that season and also made their first Cup Series start that season. In 2005, Addington was named the crew chief for Joe Gibbs Racing's #18 car driven by Bobby Labonte, replacing Mike "Fatback" McSwain. Labonte left for Petty Enterprises and was replaced by J.J. Yeley for two years. Kyle Busch replaced Yeley as the driver of the #18 car in 2008 and Addington remained as the crew chief. On March 9, 2008, Addington scored his first win as a NASCAR Sprint Cup crew chief when the 18 team won the Kobalt Tools 500 in Atlanta, Georgia with driver Busch. Busch and Addington would win eight times that year, including the Dodge (Southern) 500. Addington lead Busch to four additional wins in 2009. On December 14, 2009, it was reported that Addington had accepted a deal to move to Penske Racing and become the next crew chief for Kyle's brother Kurt Busch, replacing outgoing crew chief Pat Tryson, who had been relieved of his duties following the 2009 Sprint Cup Season. Kurt won twice that season.
Addington ended his tenure as Busch's crew chief at the end of 2011. He joined Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) owner/driver #14 Tony Stewart and Team Chevy, taking over for 2011 Cup Champion-winning crew chief Darian Grubb. Addington and Stewart had previous worked together at Joe Gibbs Racing and together they won three times in 2012. Stewart got injured and Mark Martin was brought in to finish the season. Before Stewart's injury; he had a win. Addington was relieved of his duties as crew chief of the #14 on November 19th, 2013, and he moved to HScott Racing to work with Jason Allgaier for 2014 & 2015. 2016 Saw Clint Bowyer take over the car from Allgaier as Addington remained on as the crew chief. They had a dismal season and at the end of the year Scott closed down his race operation leaving Addington looking for a job. He was without a crew chiefing job for five years. Addington crawled back atop the crew chief box again in 2022. He went to work for Rod Sieg as they fielded a second full time car. Son Ryan Sieg drove one car; while various drivers split time in the second machine. CJ McLaughlin ran the most races (13) and had a best finish of tenth at Texas. Parker Retzlaff ran five races and also finished tenth at Richmond. It was the only two top tens the car posted. It was also driven by Rod's other son, Kyle Sieg, in five races with a best finish of 16th at Atlanta. Joe Graf Jr, Patrick Gallagher, and Darren Tilley also drove the car on a limited basis. Addington remained with owner Rod Sieg and helped guide a quartet of drivers in 2023. Joe Graf Jr made the most starts with 27. He was the only one able to post a top ten finish working with Addington, with it coming as the season opened at Daytona. He started 29th and finished seventh. The next best finish was by Chris Hacker when he finished 14th at Richmond in one of his two starts paired with Addington. Joe Graf finished 17th at Charlotte and Pocono; while Alex Labbe added an 18th place run at Las Vegas. These were the only top 20 runs on the season. So far, Addington has won 20 times with a major event win in the Coke 600 (2010). His Xfinity drivers have claimed eleven wins in 296 starts.
All Photos copyright and are property of their respective owners