Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s team is dipping their toes in the NASCAR Cup Series this season. Since it opened its doors back in 2005, JR Motorsports has always been part of the Xfinity Series. However, Dale Jr. and his sister Kelley Earnhardt Miller are taking the team to the Cup Series for the first time, as Justin Allgaier will run the Daytona 500. Driving the No. 40 Chevrolet, Allgaier will be accompanied by veteran crew chief Greg Ives. Yes, this article will be about Ives, the NASCAR insider who is an asset to both JRM and Hendrick Motorsports.

Who is Greg Ives?

From serving in Jimmie Johnson’s championship-winning team to helping Alex Bowman pave a glittering start to his Cup Series career, Greg Ives has achieved a lot. Ives joined the legendary No. 48 team led by crew chief Chad Knaus in 2004. This coincided with Jimmie Johnson’s historic run of five Cup Series championships from 2006 to 2010. Then Ives joined JR Motorsports in 2012 and was named Chase Elliott’s crew chief in 2014. He helped an 18-year-old rookie Elliott to become the youngest Xfinity Series champion in history. Ives retired from his crew chief role at the end of 2022. However, new projects lined up one by one, including his latest venture with JR Motorsports.

From working with father to the tracks of Le Mans: Greg Ives the “problem-solving” crew chief

Greg Ives has had a blooming relationship with the racetrack since his younger days. He grew up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, working at racing venues with his father and older brother. He even spent eight years behind the wheel – serving as a competitive driver. After earning a mechanical engineering degree from Michigan Tech, Ives drove 1500 miles from Michigan to Florida on an invitation from Brian Whiteshell, who later became Hendrick Motorsports’ Vice President of Operations. That kicked off a remarkable journey in NASCAR, as he joined Jimmie Johnson’s team as race engineer.

During his tenure under Johnson, Greg Ives was part of 113 top-five finishes, 42 wins, and 21 pole positions. He joined JR Motorsports as a crew chief for Regan Smith and continued his golden streak there as well. The duo earned two victories and 8 top-five finishes on their way to a third-place finish in the 2013 series standings. Ives subsequently helped Dale Earnhardt Jr. clinch three wins in 2015. The same year, Ives achieved the 2015 MOOG Problem Solver of the Year award, presented to a crew chief who posts the best overall performance and most consistently demonstrates problem-solving excellence.

Since the start of 2015, Greg Ives has worked as the crew chief for Earnhardt Jr., Alex Bowman, Jeff Gordon, and Noah Gragson with a combined 10 victories. But even after he withdrew from his crew chief role at the end of 2022, Ives kept coming back. The Bark River, Michigan, native jumped right into working with Hendrick Motorsports’ Garage 56 project for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2023. He professed his dedication to it: “I am focused on the performance of the car and executing the tests so that we can drive performance, have maximum speed and durability to be able to run the 24 Hours (of Le Mans) with a good showing.”

Greg Ives returns to NASCAR Cup Series with JR Motorsports for the Daytona 500

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Well, when Greg Ives stepped down from his crew chief role in 2022, he had personal reasons. Ives wanted to spend more time with his family – he and his wife Jessica are raising three adorable children – Payton, Taylor, and Parker. He explained himself back then: “My kids got a couple more years older.. And you know, a lot of different activities from softball, football, go-kart racing, and, you know, my daughter becoming an adult and going to college soon, it was starting to weigh on me, kind of having to leave home.” However, when Dale Earnhardt Jr. approached him for a role, Ives could not turn it down.

Greg Ives has been the crew chief for eight Daytona 500 races. He ensured to put his car on the front row an astonishing six times. Recollecting the decision to rope in Ives, Dale Earnhardt Jr. had nothing but praise for him during JRM’s Cup Series announcement. “I saw how many times he’s qualified a car on the front row at Daytona… I was confident that Greg understood better than anybody the things we would all need to gather into place to go there with the best opportunity we could. And me and him are just really great friends and I trust him wholeheartedly. And I don’t think he’ll be too annoyed with me standing over his shoulder throughout the whole process, asking him all kinds of silly questions.” 

Will Greg Ives be a fixture in the 2025 NASCAR season?

Well, after retiring from his crew chief role, Greg Ives continued to work with Chad Knaus, Hendrick Motorsports’ Vice President of Competition. He got opportunities to work closely with the GM Charlotte Technical Center in Concord, right outside the Hendrick campus. Currently, however, there is no indication that Ives will become heavily involved in the 2025 NASCAR season. Yet who knows? Justin Allgaier clinched the 2024 Xfinity Series championship. If he can claim his first Daytona 500 win under Ives’ guidance, then the spotlight will be on the veteran crew chief.

The hard-working Michigander entered NASCAR’s premier level with a powerhouse team – HMS – and remains forever grateful. “I’ve been so, so blessed and fortunate to be at the right point of my life, on the right day in the right hour, to meet the proper people to have those doors open for me. I did what I needed to continuously open those doors and, you know, hard work got me on the setup plate. Hard work got me noticed by Chad and wanted me to be his engineer. So yeah, I’ve been blessed to be part of Hendrick Motorsports since really my inception of racing,” he said, speaking to NASCAR.com in 2022.

We are eager to see more of the inspiring beacon that Greg Ives presents to NASCAR.