A championship-winning crew chief is going back on the road in 2025 as Jason Ratcliff returns to the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
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Joe Gibbs Racing made multiple crew chief announcements on Monday while putting pieces in place for the 2025 season. The biggest was promoting Tyler Allen and pairing him with Ty Gibbs in the Cup Series.
Allen had previously been named the crew chief of the No. 54 Xfinity team, but the promotion meant that JGR needed to turn to another person. That man is Ratcliff, who will serve as a full-time crew chief for the first time since 2023 when he guided a variety of drivers in Xfinity.
Ratcliff has no shortage of success in NASCAR's national series. He has 15 wins as a Cup crew chief — one with Joey Logano and 14 with Matt Kenseth. He has a runner-up in the championship standings on his resume.
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Jason Ratcliff will return to the top of the pit box as crew chief for Taylor Gray and the No. 54 Xfinity Series team. pic.twitter.com/PQkirYB8Fx— Joe Gibbs Racing (@JoeGibbsRacing) December 2, 2024
His previous tenure in the Xfinity Series featured even more success. Ratcliff has celebrated 57 wins in the second-tier series, including 13 with Kyle Busch in 2010. He and Busch also won the Xfinity championship in 2009 after a nine-win campaign.
Ratcliff spent last season as the JGR's Team/Driver Coordinator for the Xfinity and ARCA Menard Series programs. He will now return to pit box while guiding rookie Taylor Gray, who moves from Tricon Garage and the Craftsman Truck Series up to Xfinity.
"I'm thrilled to join Taylor and the 54 team for the 2025 season," Ratcliff said in a statement. "After a year away from the track, I'm eager to return to the pit box every weekend. Taylor has the talent and determination to excel in NASCAR, and it's our mission to help him achieve that success."
Gray has limited experience in Xfinity having made only 13 starts last season for Joe Gibbs Racing. However, he finished third in his debut at Richmond Raceway and then added a fifth-place finish at Pocono. His third top-10 finish was at Michigan.
Mechanical issues and crashes led to four DNFs as Gray ended the season with an average finish of 19.2. Now, he will move full-time to Xfinity while working with a wildly successful veteran crew chief.
