NASCAR: Team Penske, Wood Brothers make crew chief swap

Team Penske and Wood Brothers Racing announced Monday a swap of crew chiefs in the hope of helping two of their underperforming drivers.

Jeremy Bullins will shift from Penske’s No. 2 Ford and driver Austin Cindric to work with Harrison Burton and the Wood Brothers’ No. 21 Ford. Brian Wilson will switch over from the No. 21 team to take Bullins’ place with the No. 2 operation.

The changes go into effect starting with this Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 (6 p.m. ET, USA, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App), the opening event of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs at Darlington Raceway. The teams indicated the personnel moves would last for the remainder of this season and into the 2024 campaign.

Bullins returns to the Wood Brothers team, where he served as crew chief from 2015-17. He has nine Cup Series wins — one with the Wood Brothers and the rest with Team Penske. Bullins had been atop the pit box for the No. 2 Mustang since 2020, first with Brad Keselowski, then Cindric, whom he paired with for the team’s 2022 Daytona 500 victory.

Wilson is in his 20th year under the Team Penske umbrella and in his second year as a Cup Series crew chief, joining the Wood Brothers in 2022 for Burton’s rookie campaign. Before that, Wilson was a mainstay in Team Penske’s Xfinity Series program, collecting 23 wins and helping Cindric to the 2020 title in that circuit.

Neither Cindric nor Burton qualified for the Cup Series Playoffs this season. Cindric ranks 22nd in the Cup Series drivers’ standings with three top-10 finishes through the first 26 races. Burton sits 30th in Cup Series points with two top 10s.