JRM adds familiar faces to 2024 Xfinity crew chief lineup

Adam Wall will lead JRM’s No. 8 team and new driver Sammy Smith while Phillip Bell returns as crew chief for the No. 9 team and driver Brandon Jones.

Reprising their roles with the No. 1 and No. 7 teams, respectively, will be Mardy Lindley and Jim Pohlman, who led drivers Sam Mayer and Justin Allgaier both to the Championship 4 in 2023.

Bell spent seven seasons as a lead engineer with JRM before heading to the Cup Series last year at HMS. Wall started at HMS in 2011, then joined JRM as an engineer for three seasons (2016-18). He reunited with HMS the following year, rising to lead engineer for Kyle Larson and was part of Larson’s inaugural Cup title team in 2021.

“I feel very confident in our group of crew chiefs for 2024,” said JRM’s Director of Competition, Mike Bumgarner. “Both Adam and Phillip have previous experience here with our guys and that chemistry alone makes the flow of communication even better.

“The process speaks volumes to what (co-owners) Dale (Earnhardt) and Kelley (Earnhardt-Miller) have been able to do here.”

Wall, a 34-year-old from Teutopolis, Ill., had previously been with JRM alongside crew chief Kevin Meendering and then-driver Elliott Sadler as an engineer beginning in 2016. He left JRM with Meendering at the end of 2018 and moved back to HMS, first with the No. 48 team and then with its No. 5.

“It’s a lot of the same people here at JR Motorsports, so I’m excited to hit the ground running,” Wall said. “It’s a really efficient process that they have going with HMS and JRM in terms of personnel, and I’m an example of how it works.

“To be able to come back to JRM on the crew chief level is a really nice path.”

Bell, entering his first season as a Xfinity crew chief, was the lead engineer for JRM’s No. 9 car during the 2022 season that produced a single-season team record eight victories and a second straight Championship 4 appearance. The 33-year-old Senoia, Ga. native worked at JRM beginning in 2016 and in 2022 rose to the post of lead engineer.

“I’m very appreciative of the opportunity,” said Bell. “I couldn’t have asked for a better place to be, because I know the systems and the people. It feels like coming home.

“The No. 9 team means a lot to me. We spent a lot of time and effort and helping build that legacy, getting the right systems in place to win races, and it means a lot to me to be here with them.”

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