Career

NASCAR crew chief

McReynolds was born in Birmingham, Alabama. His NASCAR career began in 1975. He worked his way up the ladder and took his first crew chief job in 1985.

He served as a Sprint Cup crew chief from 1985 to 2000, amassing 23 Cup wins, 21 poles, 122 top-five and 209 top-ten finishes. In 1988, McReynolds earned his first Cup win at Watkins Glen International with driver Ricky Rudd.

In 1991, McReynolds teamed with owner Robert Yates and driver Davey Allison to win 11 races and three pole positions between 1991 and mid-1993, establishing himself as one of the sport’s elite crew chiefs. He led Allison to a win in the 1992 Daytona 500, and the two swept the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race (then The Winston) in 1991-’92. In late 1993, McReynolds teamed with Ernie Irvan, a combination that produced seven wins between late 1993 and 1996 (Irvan missed the 1995 season due to injury). After joining Richard Childress Racing in 1997, McReynolds called the shots as seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt captured the elusive Daytona 500 victory in 1998.

McReynolds’ success and thorough approach to his profession earned him selection to the Copenhagen/Skoal All-Pro Team, an all-star “who’s who” of crew members, for five straight years (1991-1995), and the 1998 UAW GM Teamwork of Excellence award. McReynolds was the winning crew chief for the 1992 Daytona 500, with driver Davey Allison in the No. 28 Robert Yates Racing Ford Thunderbird.

Fox Sports Broadcaster

At the end of the 2000 season, McReynolds left the Richard Childress-owned No. 31 Chevrolet and ventured into the Fox Sports broadcast booth with Mike Joy and 3-time Winston Cup champion Darrell Waltrip. The three called NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races for Fox NASCAR from 2001 through 2015 and also Busch Series races from 2001 and 2006. In 2015, he served as an analyst for Fox Sports 1's live race coverage of the Xfinity Series, in addition to serving as an analyst on FS1’s NASCAR RaceDay and NASCAR RaceDay-Xfinity, the network’s pre-race shows for the Sprint Cup Series and Xfinity Series, and NASCAR Race Hub, its daily NASCAR news and highlight show. McReynolds, who was inducted into the Alabama Auto Racing Pioneers Hall of Fame in December 2013, was a longtime panelist on NASCAR Trackside and NASCAR Performance on Speed. In 2016, McReynolds served as an in-race analyst for Fox NASCAR's 16th season broadcasting the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

He was a roving reporter for the six Sprint Cup races on TNT during the 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 Cup seasons. From 2012 to 2014, he worked as a co-host (along with Kyle Petty and Adam Alexander) for the pre-race segments on TNT.

Personal

McReynolds was inducted into The Oceanside Rotary Club Hall of Fame in Daytona Beach, Fla., in 2008. In 2009, McReynolds received the Living Legends of Auto Racing Russ Moyer Media Award. He played himself in the 2006 Will Ferrell comedy hit, Talladega Nights. McReynolds also co-hosted NASCAR Performance Show with Steve Post on Motor Racing Network (MRN) between 2004 and 2013, and co-authored the books “The Big Picture: My Life from Pit Road to the Broadcast Booth” and “How to Become a Winning Crew Chief.”

[ Source: Wikipedia ]