Jeff Meendering

Jeff Steven Meendering (born May 21, 1977) is an American

Meendering began working for Hendrick Motorsports in 1996. In 2000, he became a member of the pit crew for the No. 24 car driven by Jeff Gordon in the Cup Series. In 2005, he became the car chief for the No. 24 car.^[1]

In 2007, after Gordon's No. 24 car and Hendrick teammate Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 car failed inspection at Sonoma, resulting in Gordon's crew chief, Steve Letarte, and Johnson's crew chief, Chad Knaus, being suspended for six races, Meendering was the No. 24 car's interim crew chief. While serving as interim crew chief, Meendering was assisted by Ken Howes, Hendrick's Vice President of Competition at the time, and Ron Malec, Johnson's car chief and interim crew chief, was assisted by Lance McGrew, who worked for the team in Research and Development at the time.^[1]

2008–2016: Petty Enterprises crew chief, SHR and JGR car chief

In 2008, he left Hendrick to become the crew chief for the famous Petty Enterprises No. 43 car driven by Bobby Labonte, replacing Doug Randolph, who left to go to Dale Earnhardt, Inc. as the crew chief of Paul Menard's No. 15 car. This was Meendering's first permanent crew chief job. He was recruited to the position by Robbie Loomis, the crew chief of Gordon's No. 24 car prior to Letarte, who worked for Petty Enterprises at the time as their Vice President of Race Operations, after the two previously worked at Hendrick together.^[2]

In

Meendering's younger brother, Kevin, is also a NASCAR crew chief. Kevin works for Hendrick Motorsports as the crew chief for their part-time No. 17 car in the Xfinity Series. The Meendering brothers are from Marne, Michigan.^[6]

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