Cliff Daniels enters the 2026 season in his sixth year paired with driver Kyle Larson on the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. This is his eighth season as a crew chief and his seventh full-time season atop the pit box. Through five seasons with Larson, Daniels has led the No. 5 HendrickCars.com team to 25 wins and two NASCAR Cup Series championships.
Auto racing has always been part of Cliff Daniels’ life. Growing up in Smithfield, Virginia, he split his time between baseball and working on stock cars in his family’s garage. His father, Charlie Daniels, a full-time late model driver who competed at Langley Speedway and throughout Virginia in the 1980s and ’90s, sparked his early passion for the sport. Even after Charlie stepped away from racing in 1992, Cliff remained deeply connected to motorsports.
Although talented on the baseball field, Daniels’ heart was in racing. He received his first go-kart at age 7 and a bandolero at 9, competing at South Side Speedway near Richmond (Va.) before moving to legends cars at Langley Speedway by 2001. From 2004 to 2007, he raced late models at South Boston Speedway, continuing through his graduation from Hampton Roads Academy.
Daniels eventually chose engineering over pursuing a professional driving career. In 2006, he enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, studying mechanical engineering with a motorsports concentration while working as a mechanic for ARCA and Xfinity Series teams. After earning his degree in 2010, he joined RAB Racing as Kenny Wallace’s race engineer, then moved to Stewart-Haas Racing to engineer Tony Stewart’s No. 14 team in 2013–2014.
Hendrick Motorsports hired Daniels in December 2014 as the race engineer on Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet under legendary crew chief Chad Knaus. From 2015 to 2018, he contributed to 13 wins, 31 top fives, 60 top 10s, two poles, and Johnson’s record-tying seventh Cup Series championship in 2016.
After a stint in Hendrick Motorsports’ competition systems group, Daniels returned to the No. 48 team as lead engineer in mid-2019 and was promoted to crew chief that July. He guided Johnson through his final full-time season in 2020, earning five top fives and 14 top-10 finishes together.
A new chapter began in 2021 when Daniels became crew chief for Kyle Larson and the No. 5 team. Their impact was immediate: Daniels earned his first win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in their fourth race together, and the duo went on to claim 10 points-paying victories, five playoff wins, the All-Star Race, and led 2,581 laps en route to the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series championship.
The No. 5 team continued to excel, tallying 22 wins from 2021 through 2024. In 2025, they opened the season with three victories in the first 12 races. Their momentum carried through the playoffs as they secured the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series championship, marking the 15th title for Hendrick Motorsports and placing Daniels among an elite group of multi-time Cup Series crew chiefs.
Outside the garage, Daniels enjoys snowboarding, cycling, running, and mountain biking. He is a Carolina Panthers fan and lives in Huntersville, North Carolina, with his wife, Shannon, and their children, Ivey and Ethan
