Team Penske will undergo a major change at the end of the 2021 NASCAR season. Crew chief Todd Gordon, who primarily works with Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 team, has announced that he will retire at the end of the year. He will walk away with 23 Cup Series victories on his resume, including two with Blaney.
According to a release from NASCAR, Gordon announced the news during an appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Monday, June 28. He will officially start a new chapter in his life, prompting Blaney to find a new crew chief for 2022. The two men started working together in 2020 and reached the playoffs. They combined for a win at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 2021 and set up another consecutive trip to the playoffs.
“It’s just one of those things that you look at any life and there’s several chapters in it,” Gordon told SiriusXM, per NASCAR. “It’s been an awesome run here at Team Penske, and really, really happy and fortunate to have the opportunities that I’ve had here, but when you look at it going forward, this is my 23rd year down here in NASCAR and 10 years in Cup Series and just made a family decision that this’ll be my last year sitting on the pit box.”
Gordon Helped Deliver a Championship to Team Penske
GettyTodd Gordon (right) and Joey Logano (left) celebrate the 2018 championship.
While the veteran crew chief spent the final two seasons of his career with Blaney, he previously helped bring a Cup Series championship to Team Penske while working with another driver. Gordon served as the crew chief for Joey Logano and the No. 22 team during the 2018 season, resulting in three wins, 13 top-five finishes, and 26 top-10s. They ended the season together as champions.
Gordon began working with Logano in 2013 after the driver moved from Joe Gibbs Racing to Team Penske. They kicked off their partnership with one win and 11 top-five finishes. Gordon and Logano continued to find success while working together, combining for five wins in 2014, six in 2015, and three in 2016. From 2013 to 2019, the duo reached Victory Lane 21 times.
Following the 2019 season and two more wins, Team Penske made some internal moves. Gordon joined Blaney while fellow crew chief Jeremy Bullins partnered with Brad Keselowski. Paul Wolfe moved over to Logano’s team after previously working with the driver of the No. 2 Ford Mustang.
Gordon Also Achieved Success in the Xfinity Series
GettyTodd Gordon stands in the garage area during practice at Las Vegas.
Prior to joining Team Penske in 2010, Gordon spent seven years as a crew chief in the Xfinity Series. He began working with a long list of drivers in 2005, which included Kenny Wallace, Todd Kluever, Keselowski, and Parker Kligerman among others.
Gordon’s best season in the lower series took place in 2011. He partnered with multiple drivers for six wins, starting with Kurt Busch’s lone outing at Watkins Glen. The 2004 Cup Series champion climbed into the No. 22 Team Penske Dodge on Aug. 13, 2011, and held off Jimmie Johnson for the win.
Gordon worked with Keselowski during the five other wins in the 2011 season. They reached Victory Lane together at Kentucky, Lucas Oil Raceway, Chicago, Kansas, and Homestead-Miami Speedway. Four years later, Gordon and Logano partnered for the win at Watkins Glen, the crew chief’s final in the Xfinity Series.
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