Tommy Baldwin Jr. (born October 27, 1966 in Bellport, New York) is the competition Director for Bill Davis Racing in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. He is also the crew chief for Dave Blaney in the Nextel Cup series. His father, the late Tom Baldwin, is a former champion NASCAR modified driver. Baldwin himself briefly pursued a racing career before becoming a mechanic. He attempted the Virginia is for Lovers 200 in the Craftsman Truck Series in 1998, but failed to qualify.

[edit] Mechanic career

He started as a crew chief in 1997 for owner Junie Donlavey. In 1998 he moved to Bill Davis as the crew chief for Ward Burton. Burton and Baldwin won four races together, including the 2002 Daytona 500, until his departure late that season. In 2003, Baldwin became the crew chief of the #7 Sirius Satellite Radio Dodge Intrepid for Ultra Motorsports driven by Jimmy Spencer.

After Sirius' departure from the team, Baldwin joined Evernham Motorsports as the crew chief for Kasey Kahne. Kahne won NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors in 2004 with Baldwin, and won his first race with him at Richmond International Raceway the following season. Between 2003 and 2004, Baldwin fielded a Busch Series team with Eddie D'Hondt driven by a variety of drivers, including Wally Dallenbach, Jr., Damon Lusk, Tracy Hines, and Paul Wolfe. He sold the team to Evernham following 2004.

After 2005, he joined Robert Yates Racing to work with Elliott Sadler midway through the season, he left to return with BDR.

[edit] NASCAR owner

Baldwin announced on January 6, 2009 that he started his own Sprint Cup Series Team named Tommy Baldwin Racing and it will be running Toyotas. Scott Riggs has been named to pilot the car for the 2009 season. Baldwin's cars for the Daytona 500 were mainly built and assembled by volunteer crew members who were laid off by other race teams affected by the economic crisis that has plagued many teams. The #36 qualified for the race and earned a three-race sponsorship from Red Bank Outfitters and a one-race deal with Mahindra Tractors (which jumped aboard after Mike Skinner failed to qualify). During qualifying, the car was unsponsored and white.

On May 25th 2009, Sprint Cup Series driver Scott Riggs announced that he would leave Tommy Baldwin Racing following the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Riggs was 42nd in the point standings, with eight starts in the first 12 Sprint Cup races this season. His best finish was a 25th position, which came in the 2009 season-opening Daytona 500.

TBR team owner Tommy Baldwin immediately announced that Mike Skinner, Patrick Carpentier and Brian Simo would be sharing driving duties in the No.36 Toyota for the remainder of the 2009 season. Skinner will run the remainder of the NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule for Baldwin and Carpentier filled in for Skinner when Truck Series commitments prevent him from driving in the Cup Series. Simo failed to qualify for both road course events. In September Michael McDowell replaced Carpentier and Robert Richardson ran the November Talladega race.

[edit] External links

• Tommy Baldwin Racing

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