JAMES SMALL - 6/07/1979
Small came onto the scene suddenly. He had not done a bunch of crew chiefing at lower divisions as most other chiefs do. In fact the only other two times he had lead a driver was in 2017 when he filled in for Chris Gayle served a two race suspension in 2017. He worked with Eric Jones at that time. Small served as Martine Truex’s lead engineer for several years. Then at the end of 2019, Truex’s crew chief Cole Pearn, suddenly announced he was retiring. One week after Pearn announced he was leaving Joe Gibbs Racing as crew chief on Truex’s #19 Toyota Camry, the organization announced that Melbourne, Australia native James Small had been promoted from Truex’s lead engineer to Pearn’s replacement as crew chief. Prior to coming to the U.S. and NASCAR, Small spent eight years working in his native Australia in the V8 Supercars Championship. His first role in NASCAR was in an engineering role from 2014-2016 with Richard Childress Racing. In 2020, Small led Truex to one win, and of course it was the first win for Small as a crew chief. 2021 saw much improvement as the pair found victory lane four times. They had 13 Top 5 and 20 Top 10 finishes. They made it to the final race of the season, in contention to claim the Cup Championship. However, Kyle Larson had a better car late in the race and won. Truex would finish second.
James Small and Martin Truex paired together for the third straight year. After four wins the previous season; big things were expected for the #19 JGR team. But as it played out; it seemed whatever could go wrong; did go wrong. Most races throughout the regular season they finished inside the top twelve if they didn't have mechanical issues or be involved in a crash. He led 80 laps at Richmond; finishing fourth in stage one and winnings stage two. But green flag pit strategy by Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick saw them make the right call and finish first and second. Truex was fourth. At Nashville, Truex led 82 laps and won both stage one and stage two. Truex's pit crew got him out slow and he never managed to get back to the front. At Loudon he was dominant, again winning the first two stages, and leading 172 laps. But an error on pit road got him out of the pits late and he was never able to recover; finishing fourth. Without a win they failed to make it into the Chase. At Darlington, he had a winning car and led many laps; when late in the race his water pump failed. His steering locked up a Bristol, and he blew a tire while leading the next race at Texas. Finally while leading late in the race a yellow flag flew and everyone headed for pit road. Truex was leading coming down pit road; when he almost missed his pit stall and slowed suddenly. The car following him run into him, and spun him out into his pit stall. It was late in the race and he never recovered. For the year the duo had four top fives and 15 top tens. They was back together in 2023, and had a much better 2023 than they had the previous season. Truex won at Dover and broke a 54 race win-less streak. They won again at Sonoma and added another win at Loudon NH. When the playoffs started most of their finishes were 17th or worse. Somehow, they managed to advance through to the Round of 8. A 29th place finish at Miami when the motor blew put them in a bad points position and a must-win situation at Martinsville. They could finish no better than 12th and were eliminated. For the season they had three wins, nine top five and 17 top ten finishes. Small and Truex again paired up for the 2024 season. Truex had been toying with the idea of retiring from full time racing for a couple years. This season he decided would be his last. He had a strong start to the season, finishing inside the top 18 the first twelve races of the season. At Bristol he led 54 laps and scored points in both stages. He led as late as lap 483, before teammate Denny Hamlin bypassed him to take the lead and the win. Truex finished second. He was the class of the field at Richmond. He led 228 of 400 laps and was about to claim the win when a late yellow came out as Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace tangled. Everyone pitted and Hamlin beat Truex out of the pits. On the restart Hamlin squirted away and no one was able to pass him the final two laps. Truex had defeat stolen from the jaws of victory. Results dropped off from that point. Truex had just two top ten finishes, and ten finishes of 24th or worse. Still, Truex managed to make it into the play-offs via points. At Atlanta when the Chase started, Truex had suspension failure and finished 35th. At Watkins Glen, issues on pit road dropped him back in the field, and he was never able to recover. He ended up finishing 20th. This left him in a must win position to advance to the next round. At Bristol Truex started fourth, but once again issues on pit road destroyed Truex's race. He was nabbed for speeding on pit road on lap 333 and had to drop to the rear on the restart. The green flag flew on lap 338 and the cars raced the final 163 laps. Truex never had a chance to recover from his mistake and finished 24th. He was eliminated from the Chase. Now the goal was for Truex to win a race before the season ended. His best finish came at Kansas when he came home third. He only had one more top ten finish the rest of the year. For 2025, Chase Briscoe will fill Truex's seat, and Small will be there to guide him. For his career Small’s drivers have had eight wins and 45 top five finishes.
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