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Larry McReynolds
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Larry McReynolds
Lawrence Joseph McReynolds III (born January 10, 1959) is an American NASCAR television commentator for NASCAR on Fox and NASCAR on TNT and a semi-retired crew chief.
As a full-time NASCAR Cup Series crew chief from the 1980s until 2000, he won 23 races, including 2 Daytona 500's. He has been a commentator for NASCAR on Fox ever since the network started covering NASCAR in 2001. He was a color commentator in their Cup Series booth from 2001 to 2015 and since 2016 has been their rules and technical analyst.
McReynolds also briefly served as an advisor to Petty Enterprises in 2002, and was a minority owner of Bang! Racing, a team that competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for 1 year in 2004.
McReynolds was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and is an only child. His NASCAR career began in 1975. He worked his way up the ladder and took his first crew chief job in 1985.
He served as a Winston Cup crew chief from 1985 to 2000, amassing 23 Cup wins, 21 poles, 122 top-five and 209 top-ten finishes. In 1988, McReynolds earned his first Cup win at Watkins Glen International with driver Ricky Rudd.
McReynolds began 1991 with King Racing and driver Brett Bodine, but after the spring Atlanta race, left to become the crew chief for Robert Yates Racing and its famed No. 28, with driver Davey Allison. McReynolds and Allison combined to win 11 races and three pole positions between 1991 and mid-1993, establishing himself as one of the sport's elite crew chiefs. He led Allison to a win in the 1992 Daytona 500, and the two swept the NASCAR All-Star Race (then The Winston) in 1991–92. He nearly won the series points championship with Allison in 1992, with the title chase going down to the final race.
After Allison died in 1993 following a helicopter crash, McReynolds began working with driver Ernie Irvan, who left his ride at Morgan-McClure Motorsports under controversial circumstances to take over for his fallen friend. Immediately the partnership paid dividends, as Irvan won two of the nine races he drove the No. 28 and recorded six top five finishes. McReynolds helped drive the success of the No. 28 the next year as Irvan won three times and was a strong contender to unseat Dale Earnhardt as champion.
Then, on the morning before the spring race at Michigan, tragedy struck again. McReynolds, in an interview for The Scene Vault Podcast in 2020 described the situation as such. The Saturday morning prior to the race, the No. 28 was on the track for a practice session. After ten laps, McReynolds called Irvan to bring the car back in because he did not like the way it was running. Irvan would run one lap at highest speed before bringing the car in, as was his habit. McReynolds did not see Irvan blow a tire and crash on the backstretch, which caused a massive head injury. He said, once he found out of the extent of Irvan's injury and the likelihood that he might not survive, he was ready to leave motorsports altogether having had two of his drivers die while he was leading their pit crews.
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Larry McReynolds
Lawrence Joseph McReynolds III (born January 10, 1959) is an American NASCAR television commentator for NASCAR on Fox and NASCAR on TNT and a semi-retired crew chief.
As a full-time NASCAR Cup Series crew chief from the 1980s until 2000, he won 23 races, including 2 Daytona 500's. He has been a commentator for NASCAR on Fox ever since the network started covering NASCAR in 2001. He was a color commentator in their Cup Series booth from 2001 to 2015 and since 2016 has been their rules and technical analyst.
McReynolds also briefly served as an advisor to Petty Enterprises in 2002, and was a minority owner of Bang! Racing, a team that competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for 1 year in 2004.
McReynolds was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and is an only child. His NASCAR career began in 1975. He worked his way up the ladder and took his first crew chief job in 1985.
He served as a Winston Cup crew chief from 1985 to 2000, amassing 23 Cup wins, 21 poles, 122 top-five and 209 top-ten finishes. In 1988, McReynolds earned his first Cup win at Watkins Glen International with driver Ricky Rudd.
McReynolds began 1991 with King Racing and driver Brett Bodine, but after the spring Atlanta race, left to become the crew chief for Robert Yates Racing and its famed No. 28, with driver Davey Allison. McReynolds and Allison combined to win 11 races and three pole positions between 1991 and mid-1993, establishing himself as one of the sport's elite crew chiefs. He led Allison to a win in the 1992 Daytona 500, and the two swept the NASCAR All-Star Race (then The Winston) in 1991–92. He nearly won the series points championship with Allison in 1992, with the title chase going down to the final race.
After Allison died in 1993 following a helicopter crash, McReynolds began working with driver Ernie Irvan, who left his ride at Morgan-McClure Motorsports under controversial circumstances to take over for his fallen friend. Immediately the partnership paid dividends, as Irvan won two of the nine races he drove the No. 28 and recorded six top five finishes. McReynolds helped drive the success of the No. 28 the next year as Irvan won three times and was a strong contender to unseat Dale Earnhardt as champion.
Then, on the morning before the spring race at Michigan, tragedy struck again. McReynolds, in an interview for The Scene Vault Podcast in 2020 described the situation as such. The Saturday morning prior to the race, the No. 28 was on the track for a practice session. After ten laps, McReynolds called Irvan to bring the car back in because he did not like the way it was running. Irvan would run one lap at highest speed before bringing the car in, as was his habit. McReynolds did not see Irvan blow a tire and crash on the backstretch, which caused a massive head injury. He said, once he found out of the extent of Irvan's injury and the likelihood that he might not survive, he was ready to leave motorsports altogether having had two of his drivers die while he was leading their pit crews.
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