Jeff McClure, shown here at Daytona International Speedway in the 1990s, has made a career out of racing in and fielding cars in the ARCA Menards Series.
Jeff McClure, shown here at Daytona International Speedway in the 1990s, has made a career out of racing in and fielding cars in the ARCA Menards Series.

Jeff McClure carves out a career for himself in ARCA Menards Series

www.arcaracing.com April 7, 2022

Jeff McClure refers to himself as a journeyman racer, but as is typical for him, he has far understated his role.

He has carved out a living for himself in the garages of the ARCA Menards Series and the three NASCAR national series — Cup, Xfinity and Camping World Trucks. He has been a driver, general mechanic, over-the-wall crew member, fabricator and crew chief. All of that culminated with him joining the ranks of team ownership in the ARCA Menards Series.

McClure’s driving career began when he was 21, finishing 18th in a race for what is now the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Virginia. The top five finishers in that race were long established series veterans and legends of the series in Tommy Ellis, Jack Ingram, Jimmy Hensley, Tommy Houston and Rick Mast. Together, those drivers represented 95 NASCAR victories. McClure could only imagine where his career would lead him in the coming decades.

He drove at the NASCAR Cup, Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series levels, mostly for underfunded teams in older, higher-mileage equipment. His best finishes were 31st in the Cup Series at Michigan International Speedway in 1992 driving for Jim Rosenblum, 21st in the Truck Series at Texas Motor Speedway in 2000 driving for Mike Albernaz and 16th in the Xfinity Series at the Milwaukee Mile in 1996 driving for Bobby Jones.

It was in the ARCA Menards Series that McClure found his greatest success as a driver, and where he eventually settled in to make his home professionally in motorsports.

In 50 appearances from 1991-2000, he recorded seven top-five and 16 top-10 finishes. His best season was 1994, when he finished fifth in points among 145 drivers, just behind Bob Keselowski and just ahead of Bill Venturini. Driving Chevrolets owned by his brother, Brian McClure, the team had sponsorship from a host of universities whose logos appeared on the team’s No. 89 with a die-cast collectible sales marketing element. McClure’s top-five ARCA finishes came at the high-speed tracks including Daytona International Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, Michigan and featured second and third-place finishes at Pocono Raceway.

By 2000, McClure’s driving days came to an end, as do many drivers’ careers, due to a lack of funding.

He turned his attention to the crew chief profession and worked for a number of ARCA teams and drivers including T.J. Bell, Andy Belmont, Bill Eversole and Nick Tucker. His most successful tenures were with Germain Racing, Eddie Sharp Racing and Venturini Motorsports. Highlights of his career as a crew chief include wins with Ken Butler III, Justin Haley, Christopher Bell and Todd Gilliland when Gilliland became the youngest race winner in ARCA’s 70-year history at just a day more than 15 years of age, the minimum age for eligibility.

In 2020, McClure invested in equipment obtained from Cunningham Motorsports, then Chad Bryant Racing. He has enjoyed success with drivers including Mason Mingus, Mason Diaz, John Ferrier, Mark Lowrey and Brandon Varney.

As a team owner, McClure has consistently run in the top 10 across the venues on the ARCA Menards Series platform, highlighted by a General Tire Pole Qualifying Award and third-place finish with Mingus at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in 2021 and qualifying fourth and finishing seventh at Daytona in 2022 with Diaz.

McClure, long known for his work ethic and tenacious competitive fire, appears to be growing more comfortable by the race in his new role as successful ARCA Menards Series team owner.