Roy McCauley, a Daytona 500-winning crew chief with decades of experience at Team Penske, passed away this week.
Team Penske confirmed the news with a statement shared on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
"It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to someone that has given so much to our team for over twenty years," Team Penske said in a statement. "Roy McCauley was a 'Make it happen' kind of guy. He was a gifted engineer and one of our leaders.
"He served as a crew chief for Team Penske's first Daytona 500 victory in 2008 and then took the lead in transforming our processes within our NASCAR assembly shop. Our hearts and prayers go out to his wife, Amy, and their family."
McCauley achieved success as a crew chief in Xfinity with limited opportunities. He first joined forces with Ryan Newman in 2005 on a nine-race schedule. They won six of these races, starting with Watkins Glen International. McCauley also served as the crew chief for one race in 2006 and one race in 2007.
Thinking about that Roy McCauley-led Penske #39 team in the Busch Series in 2005. In 9 starts, they won 6 races. This team was on a different level in late 2005. pic.twitter.com/HiJPkrspyN
— nascarman (@nascarman_rr) August 15, 2024
McCauley spent three seasons as a full-time crew chief in the Cup Series. His first was in 2006 as he worked alongside Kurt Busch. The duo celebrated a win at Bristol Motor Speedway in their lone season together.
McCauley worked as an engineer once again in 2007 before returning to the pit box in 2008. This time, he worked with Newman. This reunion paid immediate dividends as Newman won the season-opening Daytona 500.
McCauley's final season as a full-time crew chief was in 2009. He worked with two drivers following Newman's departure to Stewart-Haas Racing. David Stremme drove the No. 12 for 33 races and Brad Keselowski drove it for three.
McCauley stopped working as a crew chief after the 2009 season. He moved into a behind-the-scenes role at Team Penske where he worked with the organization's next generation of engineers and crew chiefs as the Manager of Assembly Operations.
"While I've been a crew chief, Roy was the first in my office when we had a good run," Jonathan Hassler, Ryan Blaney's crew chief, said in a social media post on Wednesday.
"Prior, he was the phone call you hated to get because you knew you had screwed up and he was setting you straight. No one knew more about our cars or cared more about making them better."