Drew Blickensderfer

Residence: Terrell, NC
Birthplace: Decatur, Il
College: Indiana University

Drew Blickensderfer enters his first season as crew chief of the No. 17 DEWALT team at Roush Fenway Racing.

Blickensderfer served the past three seasons as a crew chief in Roush Fenway’s highly successful Nationwide Series program. He helped guide Danny O’Quinn to a Raybestos Rookie title in 2006, before teaming with Matt Kenseth in the Nationwide Series for the next year and a half.

The duo earned three victories in the series, before Blickensderfer moved over to Carl Edwards’ No. 60 team midway through the 2008 season. There, he helped guide Edwards’ team to seven wins in their last 19 races and a second-place finish in the Nationwide Series point standings.

Blickenderfer, a six-year veteran of Roush Fenway Racing, broke into NASCAR racing with Ultra Motorsports, where he worked on the No. 1 Camping World Series truck team and eventually the No. 7 Sprint Cup entry.

He served as a set-up mechanic at Dale Earnhardt, Inc. for two seasons (2002-03) on the No. 1 Cup car, before joining Roush Racing the following year as a set-up mechanic and rear tire changer for Mark Martin’s No. 6 team.

Blickenserfer then moved up to car chief on the No. 6 Nationwide car in 2005, before being promoted to crew chief for O’Quinn in 2006.

A native of Decatur, Ill., Blickensderfer attended Indiana University where he was a member of the university’s wrestling team, and named NCAA All-American in 1998.

He and his wife Candice (the daughter of Camping World Truck Series driver Ron Hornady) have two children Viktoria (9) and Slater (7).