Schmidt elevated to Crew Chief position

Eddyville, Ky. – Jeff Schmidt has been installed as the crew chief for Mark Green and the #23 BMAR Chevrolet, Keith Coleman Racing announced today.

A native of Mayfield, Ky., Schmidt began working at KCR in March and has risen quickly through the ranks to his first crew chief assignment. The 27-year-old has been in Nascar since 2001 and has worked at Brett Bodine Motorsports, Base Motorsports and Morgan Dollar Motorsports before joining KCR.

“I am excited and grateful for the opportunity,” said Schmidt. “This is the job everyone in the garage is gunning for. It means a lot to me that the organization has shown this much faith in my abilities and I’m ready to justify that faith.”

“What you are getting with Jeff is a young guy who knows his stuff and is eager to prove himself,” said Green. “Sure he’ll do a lot of learning on the job but he has the passion and the willingness to take risks that will make him successful. I think we’ll make a great team.”

Schmidt is recently married and has no children. He said the chance to work closely with Green made him jump at the opportunity.

“Mark is a everything you could want in a driver,” he said. “He’s not afraid of pressure, takes care of his equipment, is excellent at diagnosing what the car needs and has the ability to communicate that to the crew. With a lot of drivers all you get is ‘it’s loose’ or ‘it’s tight’ and that can be difficult to correct.

“Mark not only knows what the car is doing, but he usually has a pretty good idea how to fix it. He’s a crew chief’s dream.”

According to team owner Keith Coleman the team felt Schmidt had more than proven himself worthy of the promotion.

“I think when you are evaluating personnel you have to look at more than experience,” said Keith Coleman. “Jeff has done a great deal in a very short time and at every occasion he has met the challenge and has quite often exceeded our expectations. His knowledge and confidence level are well beyond the average person and we feel he is more than ready for this responsibility.”