A  great big LoK congratulations to my good friend Stewart Cooper on being named the new Crew Chief for Kyle Petty's #45 Wells Fargo Dodge NASCAR Sprint Cup team!

Stewart's been one of the bright "new era" Crew Chiefs who bring a combination of a Mechanical Engineering background and technical focus to the job of getting the most out of a race car.  Stewart has spent his entire career working for NASCAR race teams and was most recently the Crew Chief for the Great Clips Racing #38 Toyota driven by Jason Keller in the newly christened Nationwide Series.

Stewart Cooper and Me from the Brewco/Translite Days

Stewart and I became friends while both affiliated with Brewco Racing, formerly a successful NASCAR team which operated out of Central City, Kentucky.  Stewart's one of the good guys in racing.  He's as humble as he is talented, which isn't always what you expect in such an ultra-competitive sport.

Stewart's got his work cut out for him to turn around Petty's #45 team because they've dug a bit of a hole for the themselves to start the season and now have to qualify on speed each week by virtue of falling out of the top 35 in the Sprint Cup Point Standings.  Stewart, however, believes the Petty organization has everything they need to be competitive and simply need to put all those pieces together to get Kyle into each race and then be competitive on the track.

Kyle Petty is one of the most popular drivers in the history of NASCAR and the Petty organization is arguably the biggest name in the history of the sport.  Obviously, this opportunity is both a very big break and an incredibly big challenge.  If anybody is up for the task, my money's on Stewart Cooper to help Kyle Petty once again compete for top finishes and even wins in short order!

Congratulations, Stewart, you deserve it!