Travis Geisler (born November 8, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing team executive, crew chief, and former driver. He is currently the competition director for Team Penske. He previously was a crew chief for Penske on their No. 77 Dodge driven by Sam Hornish Jr. from partway through 2008 to 2010. Prior to that, he was a driver, competing in the NASCAR Busch Series (now Xfinity) in 2004 for the No. 36 DCT Motorsports team.

Travis Geisler
Born (1980-11-08) November 8, 1980 (age 44)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
12 races run over 2 years
2005 positionN/A
Best finish41st (2004)
First race2004 Pepsi 300 (Nashville)
Last race2004 Sam's Town 250 (Memphis)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0
Statistics current as of September 7, 2020.

Racing career

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Driving career

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Crew member, crew chief and competition director career

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Geisler began working as a crew member in NASCAR when he was driving the DCT No. 36, as he was also an engineer for the underdog team.[1] In November 2006, Geisler joined Penske Racing as the engineer for Ryan Newman's No. 12 Dodge. He had spent the rest of that year, his first as a full-time crew member, at Robert Yates Racing, where he had been an engineer on Busch and Cup Series cars for the team. Geisler became a crew chief for the first time in August 2008, when Penske decided to replace Sam Hornish Jr.'s crew chief, Chris Carrier, after the No. 77 team had dismal performances throughout the season and was not as competitive as Penske's other two Cup Series cars.[2] However, even after Geisler's promotion into the crew chief role, things did not get any better and Hornish would finish 35th in the standings, fall out of the top-35 in owner points and fail to qualify for two races (Talladega and Homestead-Miami), and lose the rookie of the year award to Regan Smith. Geisler returned as the crew chief of the No. 77 in 2009, and the team would see an uptick in performance. Hornish earned seven top-ten finishes that year, two of which were top-fives, which resulted in him finishing the year 28th in the standings. In addition, he won the Sprint Showdown. For 2010, the last year of the pairing, Hornish only recorded one top-ten finish (at New Hampshire in September), but still only finished one spot lower in the standings, 29th. In 2011, the No. 77 team would close down due to sponsor Mobil 1 moving to Stewart-Haas Racing, and Penske cut back from three full-time Cup teams to two. Hornish would be demoted to Penske's Nationwide Series program, where he drove the No. 12 car, replacing Justin Allgaier, who left for Turner Motorsports. However, Geisler would instead be promoted to competition director at Penske, a position he has remained in ever since. In 2020, Geisler would return to the pit box for the first time in ten years, as he served as the interim crew chief for Penske's No. 12 Ford of Ryan Blaney in the Southern 500 after Todd Gordon was suspended for the race due to the car's improperly installed ballast.[3]

Personal life

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Originally from Pittsburgh, Geisler currently lives in Davidson, North Carolina (in the Charlotte metropolitan area where NASCAR teams are based) with his wife and two sons. He attended Vanderbilt University and earned a degree in mechanical engineering.[1]

Motorsports career results

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NASCAR

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(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Busch Series

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NASCAR Busch Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 NBSC Pts Ref
2004 DCT Motorsports 36 Chevy DAY CAR LVS DAR BRI TEX NSH
24
TAL CAL GTY
40
RCH
26
NZH CLT DOV NSH
21
KEN
39
MLW DAY CHI
23
NHA PPR
22
IRP MCH
22
BRI
30
CAL RCH
23
DOV KAN
27
CLT
DNQ
MEM
21
ATL PHO DAR HOM 41st 1002 [4]
2005 MacDonald Motorsports 72 Chevy DAY CAL MXC LVS ATL NSH BRI TEX PHO TAL DAR RCH CLT DOV NSH KEN MLW DAY CHI NHA PPR GTY IRP GLN MCH BRI CAL RCH DOV KAN CLT MEM
DNQ
TEX PHO HOM N/A 0 [5]

ARCA Re/Max Series

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(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Re/Max Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 ARMC Pts Ref
2003 Bob Aiello 62 Ford DAY ATL NSH SLM TOL KEN CLT BLN KAN MCH LER POC POC NSH ISF WIN DSF CHI SLM TAL CLT SBO
6
122nd 200 [6]

Crew chiefing record

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Travis Geisler, NASCAR Competition Director". Team Penske. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  2. ^ "Geisler replaces Carrier as Hornish's new crew chief". ESPN. August 19, 2008. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  3. ^ "No. 12 Cup Series team penalized pre-race at Darlington; Blaney to start from rear". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. September 6, 2020. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  4. ^ "Travis Geisler – 2004 NASCAR Busch Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
  5. ^ "Travis Geisler – 2004 NASCAR Busch Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
  6. ^ "Travis Geisler – 2003 ARCA Re/Max Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
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