Front Row Motorsports solidified its personnel roster for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, announcing that Grant Hutchens will be crew chief for the No. 4 Ford and driver Noah Gragson.
Hutchens, a longtime race engineer, will be in his first full season as a crew chief at the NASCAR national-series level. He replaces Drew Blickensderfer, who was paired with Gragson the last two seasons — first with the former Stewart-Haas Racing team and last year under the Front Row banner. Blickensderfer will transition into the role of competition director for the organization, working alongside current technical director Seth Barbour.
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Hutchens was most recently rostered as the lead race engineer with Wood Brothers Racing in 2024, after previous stints with Team Penske and Richard Childress Racing. He has been a crew chief for nine Cup Series races in an interim or fill-in role, with his best result a runner-up finish with Austin Cindric on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in 2022.
The rest of Front Row Motorsports’ driver-crew chief lineup will carry over from 2025. Chris Lawson returns for his second season as crew chief for the No. 34 Ford and driver Todd Gilliland, and Ryan Bergenty is back for his fourth year as crew chief of the No. 38 team, and his second season working alongside Smith.
Front Row also announced that it has hired Jonathan DeHart as aerodynamics manager. He arrives after stints with Hendrick Motorsports as body production manager and with General Motors’ IndyCar operations as aero car chief.
Those roster pairings will be in place when the Cup Series opens its 2026 campaign next month, first with the Cook Out Clash exhibition at Bowman Gray Stadium on Feb. 1 (8 p.m. ET) and then with the Daytona 500 on Feb. 15 (2:30 p.m. ET). Both events will be broadcast on FOX, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, and HBO Max.
Front Row will aim to regain its stride this season after a two-year absence from the Cup Series Playoffs. Gilliland was 27th, Smith 28th and Gragson 34th in the final 2025 standings.