Lucas A. Lambert is an American

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

crew chief who works for

Spire Motorsports Spire Motorsports is an American auto racing organization competing in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team is a subsidiary of Spire Sports + Entertainment. In the Cup Series, the team currently fields two Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 teams: the No. 7 for Cor ...

as the crew chief of their No. 77

Chevrolet Camaro The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro share ...

in the

NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...

driven by

Carson Hocevar Carson S. Hocevar (born January 28, 2003) is an American professional dirt track and stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 42 Chevrolet Silverado for Niece Motorsports. He has also co ...

. Lambert was previously Cup Series crew chief for

Richard Childress Racing Richard Childress Racing (RCR) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team is based in Welcome, North Carolina, and is owned and operated by Richard ...

Roush Fenway Racing Roush is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Politics *Glenn Roush (1934–2020), American politician in Montana *J. Edward Roush (1920–2004), United States Representative for Indiana, namesake of: ** J. Edward Roush Lake, a rese ...

(now RFK Racing) and

Legacy Motor Club Legacy Motor Club, formerly known as Petty GMS Motorsports, is an American professional stock car racing team owned by Maurice J. Gallagher Jr. and Jimmie Johnson that competes in the NASCAR Cup Series where they field the Nos. 42 and 43 Chevrol ...

. He first worked on

Jeff Burton Jeffrey Tyler Burton (born June 29, 1967), nicknamed The Mayor, is an American former professional stock car racing driver and current racing commentator. He scored 21 career victories in the NASCAR Cup Series, including two Coca-Cola 600s in ...

's No. 31 RCR car in the Cup Series as an engineer and a crew chief, then became the crew chief for their No. 2 car in the Nationwide (now Xfinity) Series driven by

Elliott Sadler Elliott William Barnes Sadler (born April 30, 1975) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 10 Chevrolet Camaro for Kaulig Racing. Sadler is one of 36 dr ...

, followed by a second stint as a Cup Series crew chief on the No. 31 (later renumbered as the No. 8) car, driven by Burton, Ryan Newman, and

Daniel Hemric Daniel Hemric (born January 27, 1991) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 11 Chevrolet Camaro for Kaulig Racing and part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving t ...

. He then moved to Roush as the crew chief for their No. 17 car, driven by

Chris Buescher Christopher William Buescher (born October 29, 1992) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 17 Ford Mustang for RFK Racing. He is the 2012 ARCA Racing Series and 2015 ...

, and later the team's No. 6 car where he reunited with Newman, and then to JRM as the crew chief for Gragson and their No. 9 car, and continued with Gragson when he moved up to the Cup Series full-time in 2023 driving for LMC, staying as the crew chief through the rest of the year with other drivers, including Hocevar, after Gragson's suspension and departure from the team.

Racing career

Lambert became a NASCAR fan as a child after attending races at

Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol Motor Speedway, formerly known as Bristol International Raceway and Bristol Raceway, is a NASCAR short track venue located in Bristol, Tennessee. Constructed in 1960, it held its first NASCAR race on July 30, 1961. Bristol is among the m ...

which led him to start racing

go-kart A go-kart, also written as go-cart (often referred to as simply a kart), is a type of sports car, close wheeled car, open-wheel car or quadracycle. Go-karts come in all shapes and forms, from non-motorised models to high-performance Kart rac ...

s. He attended college at

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...

and participated in the university's Wolfpack Motorsports program as a driver and mechanic.

2005–2019: Richard Childress Racing

After graduating college in 2005, Lambert worked for

as a mechanical engineer; he was moved up to race engineer in 2007 to work with

's team. When Burton's crew chief,

Todd Berrier Todd Berrier (born May 29, 1970) is a former crew chief for Furniture Row Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Previously, he was a crew chief at Richard Childress Racing, most notably with Kevin Harvick. He joined RCR in 1997 as crew chief i ...

, was fired midway through the 2011 season, RCR tapped Lambert to take over crew chiefing duties of the No. 31. Lambert moved to RCR's

Nationwide Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

No. 2 car to be

's crew chief in 2012. The duo won four races and finished second in the standings. As a result of that successful season, he was moved back up to the Cup Series to Burton's No. 31 car again in 2013. While Burton left the team at the end of 2013, Lambert stayed on with new driver Ryan Newman in 2014. In his first season with Newman, Lambert guided the team to the Championship 4 in the first season of the new knockout-style playoff format. In 2015, Lambert was suspended six races for illegal tire modifications in the race at

Auto Club Speedway Auto Club Speedway, originally opened as California Speedway, is a , low-banked, D-shaped oval superspeedway in unincorporated San Bernardino County, California, near Fontana. It has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1997. It was also previ ...

. Lambert earned his first Cup win atop the box with Newman at

Phoenix Raceway Phoenix Raceway is a 1-mile, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona, near Phoenix. The motorsport track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually including the final championship race since 2020. P ...

in 2017. When Newman left for

in 2019 to drive the team's No. 6 car, he was replaced in the renumbered No. 8 car by

, and Lambert remained the crew chief of the car.

2020–2021: Roush Fenway Racing

In 2020, Lambert left RCR to move to

to be the crew chief for their No. 17 car, driven by

. On October 3, 2021, RFR announced that Lambert and their other crew chief, Scott Graves, would be switching teams beginning at the race at the

Charlotte Roval Charlotte Motor Speedway (previously known as Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1999 to 2009) is a motorsport complex located in Concord, North Carolina, outside Charlotte. The complex features a quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including th ...

, and Lambert reunited with Ryan Newman and became the crew chief of the No. 6, while Graves moved to Buescher's No. 17.

2022: JR Motorsports

On January 4, 2022, it was announced that Lambert would be the new crew chief for

Noah Gragson Noah Quinn Gragson (born July 15, 1998) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Petty GMS Motorsports. He previously drove full-time in the NA ...

and the

JR Motorsports JR Motorsports (pronounced "Junior Motorsports") is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, CARS Tour, and occasionally in the NASCAR Advance Auto Par ...

No. 9 car in the Xfinity Series after Gragson's previous crew chief, Dave Elenz, moved up to the Cup Series to crew chief

Erik Jones Erik Benjamin Jones (born May 30, 1996) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 43 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Petty GMS. His nicknames are EJ, his initials, and That Jo ...

and the No. 43 car for

Richard Petty Motorsports Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team was founded as a result of the merger between Gillett Evernham Motorsports (GEM) and Petty Enterprises, with ...

, which would soon after become

Petty GMS Motorsports Petty GMS Motorsports, also known as GMS Racing in the Craftsman Truck Series, is an American professional stock car racing team formed by Richard Petty and Maurice J. Gallagher Jr. and operated by GMS Racing. In the NASCAR Cup Series they fiel ...

2023: Legacy Motor Club

On October 25, 2022, it was announced that Lambert would move back to the Cup Series in 2023 and would continue to crew chief

. The two of them would join

on the team's No. 42 car. After it was announced that Lambert and Gragson would be joining the team in 2023,

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, ...

became a part-owner of the team and it was renamed Legacy Motor Club. In June, Gragson got injured in a crash in the race at Gateway and

GMS Racing Petty GMS Motorsports, also known as GMS Racing in the Craftsman Truck Series, is an American professional stock car racing team formed by Richard Petty and Maurice J. Gallagher Jr. and operated by GMS Racing. In the NASCAR Cup Series they field t ...

Truck Series driver

Grant Enfinger Grant McArthur Enfinger (born January 22, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 23 Chevrolet Silverado for GMS Racing. Before moving up to the Truck S ...

filled in for him at Sonoma. When Gragson would be indefinitely suspended in August and left the team soon after, Lambert worked with

Josh Berry Joshua W. Berry (born October 22, 1990) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports. Berry has also competed for JRM in late model ...

Mike Rockenfeller Mike Rockenfeller (born 31 October 1983), nicknamed "Rocky", is a German professional racing driver and was an Audi factory driver competing in the DTM and the FIA World Endurance Championship. He won his first DTM title in 2013, driving for ...

and

John Hunter Nemechek John Hunter Nemechek (born June 11, 1997) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes full time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 20 Toyota Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing. He is the son of NASCAR driver Joe ...

who finished the season in the No. 42 car.

2024–present: Spire Motorsports

On November 13, 2023, Lambert lost his job as crew chief of the Legacy Motor Club No. 42 car when the team announced that he would be replaced by

Ben Beshore Benjamin Edwin Beshore (born October 21, 1981) is an American NASCAR Crew chief (auto racing), crew chief at Joe Gibbs Racing. He is currently the crew chief for John Hunter Nemechek of the No. 20 Toyota Camry in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Career ...

in 2024.

became the new full-time driver of the No. 42 and Beshore was his crew chief in the Xfinity Series with

Joe Gibbs Racing Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is an American professional stock car racing organization owned and operated by former Washington Redskins (today the Washington Commanders) coach Joe Gibbs, which first started racing on the NASCAR circuit in 1991. His s ...

in 2023. On December 6, it was announced that Lambert would crew chief for

on their No. 77 car in the Cup Series in 2024, which would be driven full-time by

, who Lambert crew chiefed at LMC at the end of the 2023 season.

Personal life

Lambert is a native of

Mount Airy, North Carolina Mount Airy is a city in Surry County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 10,611. History Mount Airy was settled in the 1750s as a stagecoach stop on the road between Winston-Salem, North Carolina an ...

and graduated from

Mount Airy High School Mount Airy High School is located on N South Street in Mount Airy, North Carolina. The front office is at the corner of N South Street and Orchard Street. The school first opened in 1895. Mount Airy's team name is the Granite Bears, and their sch ...

in 2001. He graduated from

in 2005 with a degree in mechanical engineering.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lambert, Luke Living people NASCAR crew chiefs People from Mount Airy, North Carolina North Carolina State University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)