Fantasy NASCAR Racing

entry.  Before Erwin joined in 2005, the team failed to qualify for four races but only missed two the rest of the season under his direction.  The team started outside of the top 35 in points and had to race their way in to the first few races in 2006.  In its second year the team did not miss a race in 2006.  Roush Fenway Racing hired Erwin as the crew chief for the #16 Cup car driven by Greg Biffle in May, 2007.  Erwin's first race with Biffle was at Dover International Speedway.  Biffle started in the 10th position and finished sixth, his best finish in seven races.  In September, his team went on to win at Kansas Speedway.  Erwin and Biffle recorded two wins in 2008, their first full season together.  The team made the chase for the second time in Biffle's career finishing the season third in the point standings.  They went win-less in 2009, but still made the Chase and finished seventh.  2010 found them in victory lane twice and finish sixth in the Chase.  After 18 races in the 2011 season Erwin was released, and replaced by Matt Puccia.  He was hired by Richard Petty Motorsports and lead AJ Allmendinger the remainder of the season.  In 2012 He served a crew chief for Aric Almirola in the Cup series, and in 2013 was the lead man for Sam Hornish as he went down to the Xfinity series for Team Penske.  From 2013-2017 he led various drivers who drove for Roger Penske in the Xfinity series.  He claimed 12 wins during that period.  For 2018 Erwin has been hired by the Wood Brothers to lead their new driver Paul Menard full time in the Cup Series Greg Irwin had spent 2017 working for Roger Penske and lead an Xfinity series team. It was Erwins first time atop the Cup pit box since 2014. The pair was only able to post one Top 5 finish and seven Top 10's. They failed to make the Chase and finished 19th in points. Erwin and Menard were back in 2019.  They worked hard to try and get the Wood Brothers that elusive 100th career win.  But as is normal in NASCAR; a single car operation has a steep hill to climb to compete with the multi-car teams.  Menard made a few good runs but couldn't manage to cap those runs off with a good finish.  His best finish for the season was a sixth at Bristol and he added a ninth place finish at Darlington and had a total of four Top 10's on the season.  Major changes are coming for the #21 car in 2020.  Near the end of the 2019 season, Menard announced that he was going to retire from full time racing.  Menard advised the Wood Brothers that in his opinion; Matt DiBenedetto, who had been told he would be released at season's end; would be a right fit for the team for the team going forward.  The owners must have agreed, because before the season was over a contract had been signed for DiBenedetto to wheel the #21 car in 2020 with Erwin as his crew chief.  Irwin and DiBenedetto looked to improve on their 2019 success as they rolled into 2020.  DiBenedetto had high hopes of being able to give the Wood Brothers win number 100.  The second race of the season DiBenedetto nearly pulled off a win, finishing second to Joey Logano.  They had several Top 10 runs, and when they returned to Las Vegas again; DiBenedetto almost won again finishing second to Kurt Busch.  Erwin led DiBenedetto to eleven Top 10 finishes; equaling the number of Top 10's Paul Menard had posted the previous two seasons.  Erwin and DiBenedetto will be back in 2021; and Matt will kick off the season auditioning for a job.  It has already been announced that Austin Cindric will pilot the #21 in 2022.  Erwin worked with DiBenedetto the first 15 races of 2021.  The produced only two Top 5 finishes in those events.  In April 2021, Erwin missed the race at Martinsville a due to Covid 19 protocols, and was replaced by Jonathan Hassler.  Hassler became Matt’s permanent crew chief on June 8, 2021.  It is not known of Erwin’s plans for 2022.  To date Erwin has five Cup series wins; all with Greg Biffle. He also has twelve Xfinity series wins, all between 2013 and 2017 working for owner Roger Penske.