{"id":186479,"date":"2025-10-03T03:09:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T03:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/186479\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T03:09:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T03:09:11","slug":"stellantis-signs-former-crew-chief-ahead-of-nascar-ram-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/186479\/","title":{"rendered":"Stellantis Signs Former Crew Chief Ahead of NASCAR Ram Return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stellantis has announced that Kevin Kidd will lead the motorsports divisions for NHRA and Ram’s return to the NASCAR<\/a> Craftsman Truck Series in his new role of North American Motorsports Competition Director.<\/p>\n

Kidd enters the role with over 25 years of experience in motorsports, including stints as a race engineer, crew chief, and director. In his role of NASCAR Xfinity Series crew chief, he worked with drivers such as Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano. He also worked in the NASCAR Cup Series in the same role for one race with Elliott Sadler.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intersection of engineering and competition has always been my passion,\u201d Kidd explained. \u201cStellantis\u2019 innovative approach to motorsports, especially in partnership with Kaulig Racing<\/a>, presents a unique opportunity to push boundaries. I\u2019m looking forward to contributing fresh ideas to help drive these efforts forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom Sacoman, Senior Vice President of SRT Performance Division Operations added: \u201cOur unconventional approach to competition demands a leader who can think differently, and Kevin is exactly that. His reputation in racing, combined with the capabilities of our teams, will help deliver on our \u2018Last Tenth\u2019 performance philosophy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In his new role, Kidd will work with Kaulig Racing, Tony Stewart Racing and Direct Connection Engineering.<\/p>\n

This comes after Stellantis confirmed the return of the Ram brand to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2026, after a 13-year break from the sport. CEO of Ram brand Tim Kuniskis confirmed at the time of the June 2025 announcement: \u201cFor more than a decade, customers and our dealer network asked about getting back into NASCAR. The desire was always there, but we didn\u2019t have a plan that delivered the last tenth and following just didn\u2019t fit our DNA. Now we have a solid plan that will set us apart from the field and will bring fresh new interest and engagement to America\u2019s motorsport.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be more details on our NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series program later this year. We are undoubtedly having fun with this project, and I truly look forward to sharing information on our team and how getting back on track relates to the future of Ram performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Probst, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer, added: \u201cRam returning to the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series is a major moment for the sport, and a sign that NASCAR remains a strong platform for blue chip brand partners. We are excited to welcome Ram back to the sport. Its identity includes high performance, durability and innovation \u2013 characteristics that embody NASCAR and, specifically, the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stellantis has announced that Kevin Kidd will lead the motorsports divisions for NHRA and Ram’s return to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,77461,582,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-186479","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nascar","11":"tag-nhra","12":"tag-racing","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}