The No. 77 Spire Motorsports team of Ty Dillon will be under new leadership for the remainder of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Amidst a season of disappointment for Dillon, Spire Motorsports announced Tuesday that veteran crew chief Kevin “Bono” Manion will serve as the interim crew chief, replacing Kevin Bellicourt. Manion’s tenure will begin with this Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway, per Kelly Crandall of RACER.
In his first full-time season with Spire Motorsports, Dillon sits 32nd in the points standings, having finished outside the top-20 in 19-of-21 races. Dillon raced his way to a 28th place finish in this past Sunday’s HighPoint.com 400 at Pocono Raceway.
Manion comes over with plenty of prestige, having picked up wins atop the pit box in the Cup, Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series. He notably won back-to-back Xfinity Series Championships with Martin Truex Jr. in 2004 and ’05. His Cup Series career includes victories in the Daytona 500, Brickyard 400 and Bank of America 500 with Jamie McMurray.
Spire Motorsports co-owner explains reasoning for making crew chief change to No. 77 team
Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson outlined his reasons for making a change, citing expectations not being met.
“We really want that car to get going and, unfortunately, we had to make a change,” Dickerson said. “We’ve agonized watching and waiting for the results to mirror the effort Ty [Dillon] and the 77 team puts into their program. Expectations are a funny thing. They’re a blessing and a curse and, for whatever reasons, those expectations aren’t being met. We all know, Kevin Bellicourt included, what happens at this point of the season when we are, where we are, in the overall standings. Kevin has put in a lot of hard work… Has been with us from the beginning of our journey, so this decision was difficult and not taken lightly.
“At the end of the day, we are what our results say we are. We need a spark to give this team every opportunity to progress and ultimately succeed. We’re incredibly fortunate to have someone as accomplished as Bono already in-house. That said, we admit, it might not change the trajectory of the season for the No. 77 team… Doing nothing, although tidier and more comfortable, especially with the relationships involved, clearly is not an option for us anymore… We are keen to see improvement. There is a lot of racing left in 2023 and it’s imperative that we’re raising the bar every week.”
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