Kevin “Bono” Manion has been named the interim crew chief for the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. Manion will be calling the shots for Ty Dillon when the NASCAR Cup Series runs the Cook Out 400 this weekend at Richmond Raceway.
“We really want that car to get going and, unfortunately, we had to make a change,” said Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson. “We’ve agonized watching and waiting for the results to mirror the effort Ty (Dillon) and the 77 team puts into their program. Expectations are a funny thing. They’re a blessing and a curse and, for whatever reasons, those expectations aren’t being met. We all know, Kevin Bellicourt included, what happens at this point of the season when we are, where we are, in the overall standings. Kevin has put in a lot of hard work and has been with us from the beginning of our journey, so this decision was difficult and not taken lightly.
“At the end of the day, we are what our results say we are. We need a spark to give this team every opportunity to progress and ultimately succeed. We’re incredibly fortunate to have someone as accomplished as Bono already in-house. That said, we admit, it might not change the trajectory of the season for the No. 77 team. However, doing nothing, although tidier and more comfortable, especially with the relationships involved, clearly is not an option for us anymore and we are keen to see improvement. There is a lot of racing left in 2023 and it’s imperative that we’re raising the bar every week.”
Manion was the crew chief for Martin Truex Jr’s back-to-back championships in the Xfinity Series as well as being the crew chief for Jamie McMurray when he won the Daytona 500, Brickyard 400 and Bank of America 500.
In total Manion will be crew chief for 14 of the remaining 15 Cup Series races. He will miss the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
