Fantasy NASCAR Racing

Ives went back to HMS as crew chief for Earnhardt Jr. and Mack went along as the car chief, beginning in 2015.  In 2017, Mack was the crew chief for two races with the team.  His first time on the box, at Richmond in the fall, saw Earnhardt Jr. earn a 13th-place finish in the 400-lap event.  He was also crew chief for a race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway that season.  When Earnhardt Jr. stepped out of the car at the end of the 2017 season, Mack left Hendrick to become crew chief for Kasey Kahne in the NASCAR Cup Series.  They didn't have much success as they only had a best finish of 17th.  Mack left and rejoined JR Motorsports with the #5 and driver Michael Annett midway through the season.  After joining together Annett had a best finish of seventh.  2019 saw Mack pair up with Annett again and they kicked off the season winning at Daytona.  It was the first NASCAR career win for both Annett and Mack.  Mack led the team to much improvement this year as Annett had six Top 5 and an amazing 22 Top 10 finishes.  Mack was back with Annett in 2020.  The season was much like 2019.  He had only four Top 5's, but had 22 Top 10's.  Their car seemed to be a second tier car as they couldn't find the handle to make it run up front.  They made the best run the final race of the season finishing fourth.  Annett will be back in the #1 car in the Xfinity Series in 2021, but Mike Bumgarner will be his new crew chief.  Mack moved back up to the Cup series in 2021 leading the efforts of Daniel Suarez with the new team of Track House Racing.  This pairing saw Suarez improve his finishes in 2021.  His best finish of the year, came when he finished fourth at Bristol on the dirt.  He also posted Top 10’s at Nashville, Dover and Texas.  He had 16 finishes between 11th and 20th.  Not bad for a brand new team.  They expect much improved results now that the team has a year under their belt, and the new Next Gen cars are being introduced.  After moving up to the Cup series to work with Suarez in 2021; the pair remained together in 2022 looking for that first win.  They posted top five finishes at Fontana and Atlanta; but broke through in a big way at Sonoma.  They teamed to lead 47 laps as Suarez pulled into victory circle.  It was the third Cup win for Track House Racing, and the first for Mack and Suarez.  They made it through the first round of the play-offs; but a faulty steering box at the Roval caused Suarez to finish 36th on the road course, and was eliminated from championship contention. They ended up tenth in the season points.  They will return in 2023 to try and better their performance.  The year proved to be a step backwards for the duo.  They were not able to claim a win like they did the previous season, and only had three top five finishes, compared to six in 2022.  Kaulig Racing made it clear at the end of the season that this type of performance was unacceptable and things had better improve in 2024.  They will be back together to see if they can do so.