Roy McCauley, Former Team Penske Crew Chief, Passes Away
Roy McCauley, who captured two wins as a crew chief for Team Penske in the NASCAR Cup Series over 119 starts, and added six more wins as a crew chief in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, passed away this week.
Team Penske confirmed the sad news with a touching statement about the 20-plus year team employee, who was much more than that. McCauley was a leader and above everything else, a friend.
"It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to someone that has given so much to our team for over twenty years," the statement from the team read. "Roy McCauley was a 'Make it happen' kind of guy. He was a gifted engineer and one of our leaders. He served as a crew chief for Team Penske's first Daytona 500 victory in 2008 and then took the lead in transforming our processes within our NASCAR assembly shop. Our hearts and prayers go out to his wife, Amy, and their family."
Team Penske statement on the passing of Roy McCauley. pic.twitter.com/YP4CJzgBIN
— Team Penske (@Team_Penske) August 14, 2024
McCauley, who grew up in Davidsonville, Maryland, and went on to earn a bachelor of science degree from the A. James Clark School of Engineering in 1992, first joined Team Penske, then Penske Racing South, in 2002 as a chief engineer.
The talented engineer was paired with Ryan Newman as the young racer attempted to acclimate himself to stock cars with a nine-race NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule in 2005. In those nine races, Newman and McCauley won six races together.
The following season, McCauley joined Kurt Busch as the crew chief of the iconic No. 2 Penske machine. With McCauley calling the shots, Busch scored a win at Bristol Motor Speedway in his first season with the Penske organization.
McCauley would slide back into an engineering role for the 2007 season before taking on the position of crew chief with Ryan Newman during the 2008 season. With McCauley on the pit box, Newman scored the first-ever Daytona 500 win for the Penske organization. McCauley would be paired with David Stremme and later Brad Keselowski during the 2009 season, and at the end of that campaign he would move into an integral behind-the-scenes role for the Team Penske organization.
Team Penske is in the midst of a two-year streak of winning the NASCAR Cup Series championship. Joey Logano won the title in 2022 while Ryan Blaney won the championship last year. All three Team Penske drivers, Logano, Blaney, and Austin Cindric, are locked into the 2024 Playoffs. They'll race in honor of their fallen friend.
Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.