Roush Fenway’s New No. 6 Crew Chief Comes From One Of NASCAR’s Top Teams

The No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing team will be in good hands next season.

Veteran NASCAR crew chief Scott Graves will lead newcomer Ryan Newman and the No. 6 Ford team in 2019, Roush Fenway announced Tuesday. Graves joined RFR in 2006 as a team engineer before being promoted to crew chief on the NASCAR Xfinity Series, where he helped guide Chris Buescher to a series championship in 2015.

Most recently, Graves spent the past three seasons at Joe Gibbs Racing. He led Daniel Suarez to the 2016 Xfinity championship, and followed Suarez to the Monster Energy Cup Series in 2017, leading the rookie driver to 10 top-10 finishes.

“We are very pleased to bring Scott back to the fold,” RFR owner Jack Roush said in a statement. “Scott is an exceptional talent atop the pit box and he has done an outstanding job throughout his career — with multiple championship campaigns attesting to that.

“He brings a strong engineering background to the table and we are excited about the opportunity to pair him with Ryan Newman going into the 2019 season.”

A Clifton Springs, N.Y., native, Graves earned a BS in mechanical engineering from Texas Tech in 1994.

Graves will replace Matt Puccia, who has served as the No. 6 crew chief since 2016.