Bob Osborne

Bob Osborne (born June 5, 1974) is a former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series crew chief. His last position at Roush Fenway Racing was as a senior member of the organization's management team and steering committee. He won 19 races during his nine-year tenure as a crew chief, 18 of them with Carl Edwards, and one with Chris Buescher. [1]

It was not until late in his junior year of college at Penn State University that Osborne got the itch to go racing. While working on a Formula SAE project, Osborne became friends with the gentleman who ran the shop where Osborne's project car was being built. Carson Baird is a retired IMSA driver and crew chief that spent time talking to Osborne about racing and told Osborne that if he had to do it over again, he would get involved with NASCAR as the racing was much more interesting. Osborne took that advice to heart and from there made the decision to get started in NASCAR.

For six months after he graduated, Osborne spent day and night knocking on doors trying to land a job with a NASCAR team. Finally in January 1998, Osborne was given the opportunity to work for the No. 96 Sprint Cup team as the tire specialist. Osborne worked for the team for one year, never relying on his engineering degree but knowing that his time and patience would eventually pay off.

At the end of the 1998 season the No. 96 team closed its doors and Osborne went on to work for owner Jack Roush, at then Roush Racing, where he has been working his way up the ladder ever since. Osborne started out as a general R&D data acquisition engineer where he worked at the shop traveling only to tests for the first two years of his Roush Racing career. After two years, Roush Racing decided to employ an engineer with each Cup team. Osborne was assigned to the No. 6 team driven by Mark Martin where he spent the following two years as the team engineer traveling to each race and becoming the right-hand man to the crew chief.

In his second year with Mark Martin and the No. 6 team, Osborne also took on R&D wind tunnel projects that took him across the Atlantic Ocean to Germany on several occasions. During the 2003 season Osborne also assumed the title of Director of Engineering for Roush Racing which saw him manage the other Roush engineers.

2004

All of Osborne's experience with the No. 6 team lead to him getting promoted to crew chief of the No. 99. Osborne's first race as crew chief came during the spring Darlington race in 2004 with veteran driver Jeff Burton. In the following 31 races, Osborne accrued two top-five and eight top-10 finishes. In August 2004, Osborne received word that rookie Carl Edwards would be taking over the driving duties of the No. 99 Ford. Although both were rookies, the team never missed a beat and Osborne coached Edwards to a 10th-place finish in his first career Cup start at Michigan. The team closed out 2004 posting one top-five and five top-10 finishes in just 13 starts.

2005