The checkered flag at Homestead was barely a day old before the 2027 crew chief shuffle started, and the two biggest moves are linked.
Doran goes home. Spire Motorsports announced Monday that Stephen Doran will return to lead the No. 71 Chevrolet and Michael McDowell next season. Doran ran that same car in 2024 before Trackhouse Racing hired him to call races for Shane van Gisbergen. The move paid off: in two seasons the pair won seven races and five poles, including five of six road courses in 2025 and wins at Watkins Glen and Sonoma this year. At Spire he'll work alongside fellow crew chiefs Ryan Sparks and Luke Lambert across a three-car team coming off its best year yet, with wins from Carson Hocevar at Talladega and Daniel Suárez at Charlotte. McDowell's current crew chief, Travis Peterson, is staying with Spire in a team-wide engineering role.
Harris fills the gap. Doran's exit left van Gisbergen's pit box open, and Trackhouse has confirmed that Blake Harris will fill it. Harris is leaving Hendrick Motorsports after four seasons with Alex Bowman on the No. 48, a run highlighted by a win on the Chicago streets in 2024. Hendrick hasn't named Bowman's next crew chief yet.
Why it matters. Van Gisbergen and Doran became the best road-course combination in the sport. The question now is whether SVG can turn that into week-in, week-out results on ovals, and Harris is the guy Trackhouse is betting on to help him get there. There's also a fun twist: Harris used to call races for McDowell at Front Row Motorsports, so the two will now be on opposite sides of the best road-course rivalry in NASCAR.
Reaction Lap take: Spire keeps getting stronger without making much noise. Bringing back a seven-time winner who already knows the No. 71 shop is the kind of hire that makes McDowell a real threat on road courses again next season, possibly against his old crew chief.
Sources: Spire Motorsports and RACER via Jayski.com
