Internship became career for new Kenseth crew chief

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- He had grown up a fan of drag racing, had enjoyed a little tractor pulling or mug bogging from time to time, but his NASCAR knowledge was limited to Cale Yarborough, the legendary driver who hailed from his home state. So when his advisor at Clemson University called Chip Bolin and suggested the engineering graduate student pursue an internship at Andy Petree Racing, Bolin had to ask -- who's Andy Petree?

Chip Bolin

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He didn't know that Petree, now a television analyst for ESPN, had won a pair of championships as crew chief for Dale Earnhardt before starting his own organization. He didn't know anything about Ken Schrader, the driver of the No. 33 car at the time. He didn't know much about stock-car racing, period. All Bolin knew was that he was competitive by nature, and he wanted to do something with his engineering degree other than design robotic manufacturing systems.

So the accidental crew chief was born.

"The more I worked on it, the more I enjoyed it," said Bolin, who became crew chief for Matt Kenseth after last season when Robbie Reiser took a management role within Roush Fenway Racing. "I'm a pretty competitive person to start with. The instant gratification of being able to do something and run it that weekend and see if you pass or fail, and then do something and see if you pass or fail, it's my pace. I can't work on something that's three years in advance -- work on this robotic system or set up this manufacturing line. I'm more, let's try this, it's either going to work or it's not."

Now the 33-year-old native of North, S.C., is calling the shots as only the second crew chief Kenseth has ever had. Bolin may have grown up far from the snowbound late-model tracks in Wisconsin where Kenseth and Reiser learned their trades, but he's been around them long enough that his vowels occasionally drop into a distinctly upper Midwest tone. "You sound like a Yankee," a relative told Bolin when he was home for the holidays. That's understandable -- he's been with Reiser and Kenseth since they joined the Roush fold in 1999, working as team engineer on a unit that rapidly became one of the tightest-knit in the sport.

The transition is fully expected to be a smooth one. Bolin worked as interim crew chief early last season while Reiser was suspended for technical violations prior to the Daytona 500, and was on the pit box when the No. 17 car claimed its first victory of the year at California Speedway. (Continued)