Clifford O. Daniels is an American crew chief currently employed with Hendrick Motorsports.

Racing career

Cliff Daniels had a short racing career as a driver, racing model cars at short tracks in his home state of Virginia before pursuing a mechanical engineering degree at

University of North Carolina at Charlotte The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte or simply Charlotte) is a public research university in Charlotte, North Carolina. UNC Charlotte offers 24 doctoral, 66 master's, and 79 bachelor's degree programs through nine colle ...

. After graduating, he joined

RAB Racing RAB Racing with Brack Maggard was an American professional stock car racing team that attempted NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Xfinity Series, Camping World Truck Series and the ARCA Racing Series. The team was co-owned by Robert A. Benton Sr. and hi ...

in 2011. He then moved to

Stewart-Haas Racing Stewart-Haas Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series. The team is co-owned by three-time NASCAR Cup Series champio ...

, where he served as the race engineer of the No. 14 Chevrolet driven by

Tony Stewart Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed Smoke, is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, current NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, and current co-owner of the Superstar Racing Experience. He is ...

from 2013 to 2014. In December 2014, Daniels moved to Hendrick Motorsports to serve as the race engineer of the No. 48 Chevrolet driven by

Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Kenneth Johnson (born September 17, 1975) is an American professional auto racing driver. A seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, he competes part-time in the series driving for Petty GMS Motorsports. Johnson's seven Cup championships, ...

, helping Johnson win the 2016 Sprint Cup Series Championship. Following the 2018 season, Daniels moved to Hendrick's competition systems group before rejoining the No. 48 team at Sonoma in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. On July 29, 2019, following a string of disappointing finishes during the 2019 season, Hendrick Motorsports announced that Daniels would replace

Kevin Meendering Kevin J. Meendering (born March 17, 1981) is an American NASCAR crew chief who works for Hendrick Motorsports as the crew chief of their No. 17 Chevrolet Camaro in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, which is fielded part-time for Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman ...

as the crew chief of the No. 48. On October 28, 2020, Daniels was announced to become the crew chief for No. 5 of

Kyle Larson Kyle Miyata Larson (born July 31, 1992) is an American professional auto racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports. Larson is the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champi ...

. The 5 car would replace the No. 48 in 2021. On March 7, 2021, Daniels earned his first win as a crew chief in the 2021 Pennzoil 400. He won his first championship as a crew chief in 2021 at Phoenix. On June 14, 2022, Daniels was indefinitely suspended due to a tire and wheel loss during the Sonoma race.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Daniels, Cliff Living people People from Isle of Wight County, Virginia NASCAR crew chiefs Year of birth missing (living people) University of North Carolina at Charlotte alumni