Fantasy NASCAR Racing

Manion was put in charge of driver Jamie McMurray.  Their first season together (2010) they won on three occasions; but they would not win again until 2013.  He was hired by Tommy Baldwin Racing to lead driver Michael Annett in 2014.  They had a best finish of 16th.  The following year Manion would move to work for Richard Petty Motorsports after the first seven races of the season; they had posted a best of 9th at Watkins Glen.  On December 10, Manion announced that he had left RPM.  On January 6, 2016, it was announced Manion would become crew chief for a Kyle Busch Motorsports truck shared by Daniel Suárez and Cody Coughlin in the Truck Series.  Suarez won a race that season; and in 2017 Kyle Busch added two more wins.  In 2018 Manion went to work for owners David Gilliland and the Crosley Sports group.  Manion headed up eighth different drivers that season. Bo LeMastus drove the majority of the races (11); while Gilliland and four other drivers drove twice. The group of  drivers compiled five Top 5 finishes with Kyle Benjamin finishing second at Martinsville.  Manion stayed with owner David Gilliland in 2019 and was paired with up and coming driver Tyler Ankrum.  The duo paired together for 18 races and at Kentucky Ankrum would get his first NASCAR victory.  It locked them into the playoffs and they did well.  They weren't eliminated from playoff contention until just before the season ending race at Miami.  They would finish eighth is the seasons final standings.  For 2020 Manion was be on the move.  He was hired by Gallagher Motorsports to lead the efforts of Zane Smith in the Truck series.  The two made a good pair.  Youngster Zane Smith had all of his finishes inside the Top 20 except for twice when he crashed.  He got his first win Michigan and two weeks later went to victory lane at Dover.  They pair had seven Top 5 and 13 Top 10 finishes; a best for Manion.  They made it to the Championship and ran great.  Sheldon Creed had a great truck and Smith just couldn't keep up with him when it counted.  He finished second in the race and the Championship.  In 2021 Manion was back with Smith to chase the Championship.  They had three Top 5 and 14 Top 10 finishes.  He made it into the Chase via points; and “had” to win at Martinsville to advance to the season ending Championship.  He took the lead from Todd Gilliland on lap 174 and held on to grab the win.  At Phoenix he ran well; but wasn’t as good a Ben Rhodes who claimed the Championship.  Once again Smith was runner up.  Smith moved to the #38 truck for 2022.  Manion worked with several drivers in 2022, part time in the Xfinity series, who drove the #7 for owner Spire Motorsports.  His drivers made a total of eleven starts.  He was paired with Austin Hill for two races; the first was the season opening race at Daytona where they finished 15th.  They were paired together at Pocono where they made a good run and finished sixth.  Next was the first of two starts with Alex Bowman.  They finished 25th COTA; and would get a 29th at Sonoma.  He led Chase Elliott on the dirt at Bristol where they started and finished seventh.  William Byron was paired with Manion at Martinsville, where the duo started 32nd.  They made their way through the field and ended up in the lead when the checkered flag flew to get the win.  The majority of the rest of his races he called the shots for up and comer Rajah Caruth.  Caruth had shown a lot of talent in the ARCA and was getting his feet wet in the Truck Series; and run well in the races; but crashed on a couple of occasions.  GMS must have liked what they saw out of Caruth; as they hired him to drive their #24 truck full time in 2023.  Manion took over the lead of the #77 car driven by Ty Dillon for the final 14 races of the season for Spire Motorsports.  He took over for Kevin Bellicourt who only had two top 20 finishes with Dillon.  Manion and Dillon also only had two top 20 finishes.  Dillon was let go by Spire Motorsports at the end of the year and replaced by Carson Hocevar.  Luke Lambert will lead his efforts.  Manion was paired with young driver Nick Sanchez for 2024 in the Truck series. The season started off great as Sanchez held off Corey Heim to win at Daytona.  The duo ran off an impressive amount of good runs and top ten finishes.  They were second at Darlington, and would win at Charlotte in May.  When they play-offs started Sanchez made it through the first round of the play-offs into the Round of 8.  But a 22nd place finish at Talladega was enough to prevent him from advancing to the Championship race at Phoenix.  There he ran well and finished fourth in the race and fifth in the points.  Manion has led drivers at all levels of the NASCAR series. His drivers made 368 starts at the Cup level and he had a win with Martin Truex, and four wins with Jamie McMurray. Two of those were crown jewel events. Daytona 500 (2010), and Brick Yard 400 (2010). He led various drivers to 85 starts in the Xfinity series. Dale Earnhardt Jr won four times, and Martin Truex won on 13 occasions, including claiming the Xfinity Championship in 2004 and 2005.  The last several years have been spent in the Truck series grooming drivers to move on to the higher ranks. In 176 starts, his drivers have 11 wins, and Zane Smith finished runner up for the championship in 2020 and 2021.  Manion will work with Rajah Caruth in 2025 at Spire Motorsports.