“I Have a Family, a Wife and Three Kids, That I Want to Enjoy”: Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Former Aide on the Brutal Reality of Being a NASCAR Crew Chief

Greg Ives is a crew chief who played a crucial role in the development of Hendrick Motorsports and JR Motorsports. As most men in his profession are, Ives was a deep workaholic as well. This led him to spend countless hours in the race shop. However, he was also aware that his family played an equal importance in his life and gave it the attention it needed.

He said in a 2016 interview with inc.com, “I have a family, a wife and three kids, that I want to enjoy. When I get home, I have less than three hours with my kids each day before they go to bed. I try to make that time as efficient as I can. I’m probably more efficient at that than I am with my time at the shop.”

Ives served as Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s crew chief at the time of this interview. The level of commitment that such a role requires is massive. It is an impressive feat that he managed to balance his personal and professional lives so capably. Another trick that he followed to force himself out of the race shop was to fix appointments to do things.

He explained, “For example, I always make a haircut appointment for 6 p.m. on Tuesdays. Every three or four weeks, 6 p.m. on Tuesday is a hard out.” His words showcase the massive love that he had for doing his job. It is with such dedication that he won a Nationwide Series championship with JR Motorsports and produced great results with Dale Jr. between 2015 and 2017.

Ives’ approach to solving the problems that come with his job

Ives is almost always prepared to face the problems that pop up on the race track. He thinks about the issues that could stem from a certain scenario and drafts solutions for them before heading into the field. This way, he is seldom surprised about an issue. He detailed, “Say it’s a race call: Maybe we can gain nine spots by only changing two tires.”

“But if the tires fall off by a lot (in other words, lose too much grip) then those nine spots may only turn into two spots over the course of a run…that’s how I approach problem-solving.” This kind of attitude has helped Ives greatly throughout his career. Hopefully, it will do so on February 16 as well.

He will be playing the role of crew chief for Justin Allgaier in the Daytona 500 in JR Motorsports’ Cup Series debut. The event will be an extremely crucial one for Dale Jr., considering that he has always wanted to field a car in the premier tier. The fact that he trusted Ives to get the job done successfully, tells a lot about the chief’s professionalism.