Just three races into the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, Jordan Anderson Racing have confirmed a new crew chief for the No. 31 team. Cody McKenzie is set to replace Jeff Kirkendall on top of the box as Blaine Perkins' crew chief, starting with this Saturday's GOVX 200 at Phoenix Raceway.
Kirkendall served as the 25-year-old Bakersfield, California native's crew chief in each of the season's first three races at Daytona International Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, and Circuit of the Americas (COTA), marking his first time as an Xfinity Series crew chief since 2022, when he spent one race with Joe Graf Jr. and SS-Green Light Racing, also at COTA.
Before that, his only race as a crew chief came all the way back in 2010 at Texas Motor Speedway, when he was on top of the box for Robert Richardson Jr. and the No. 23 R3 Motorsports team.
Crew chief change comes despite career-best finish
Kirkendall guided Perkins to a 10th place finish at COTA, which matched his career-high result from Martinsville Speedway three years ago when he competed for Our Motorsports, so the timing of the change was seen by some as rather surprising.
McKenzie does not have previous Xfinity Series crew chief experience, but he does have previous experience in the series, having served as race engineer at Big Machine Racing for Parker Kligerman and the No. 48 team last year. Kligerman qualified for last year's playoffs and finished in 10th place in the point standings with 15 top 10 finishes, including five inside the top five.
Cody McKenzie moves from Big Machine Racing, where he served as Race Engineer for the No. 48 Chevrolet and Parker Kligerman last season.
— Joseph Srigley (@joe_srigley) March 6, 2025
He’ll now serve as crew chief for Blaine Perkins, who comes off a top-10 finish at Circuit of The Americas.#NASCAR https://t.co/JNAftNdyYi
Perkins finds himself in 24th place in the standings through three races, and he is now set to head to a track where he recorded his best finish of the 2024 season, 13th, with RSS Racing.
The GOVX 200 is set to be broadcast live on the CW Network from Phoenix Raceway beginning at 5:00 p.m. ET this Saturday, March 8. Start a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss it!