Longtime Roush Fenway Racing employee Mike Kelley has moved into a new role as crew chief of the No. 6 NASCAR Nationwide Series car driven by Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.

“Mike Kelley brings a lot of experience and enthusiasm to the team and I plan on learning as much as I can from him,” said Stenhouse. “We had a good run at Phoenix last week finishing ninth, but the first five races were pretty rough.  I’m still new here so I put my faith in Jack and Roush Fenway’s management team when it comes to these kinds of decisions.  Jack has made changes like this before and has had a lot of success so I have no reason to doubt him.  I’m looking forward to building on last week’s momentum going to Texas and trying to get this CitiFinancial team running back up front where we belong.”

Kelley has served as car chief for drivers Kurt Busch in the Sprint Cup Series as well as Carl Edwards and David Ragan in the Nationwide Series since joining Roush Fenway Racing in 2002.

"I am really excited about this new deal,” stated Kelley.  “Ricky has a lot of talent so I’m looking forward to working with him. I missed working on top of the box with a single group of guys.  The other role I was doing (competition director) is very important and I enjoyed it but I missed the camaraderie of working with one group of guys.  It’s a whole fresh start for me now.  When I went from David (Ragan) to Carl (Edwards) I had my guys with me and it was a comfortable feeling, but right now I’m starting with a bunch of new guys and a new driver and some different cars but I think we have a lot of potential.  I am really excited about getting to Texas.”

Ben Leslie has been promoted to director of competition for Roush Fenway’s four Nationwide Series teams.

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