Veteran crew chief Kevin "Bono" Manion sits down with Davey Segal (8:15) to discuss his illustrious career in NASCAR that has seen him work with close to 50 drivers, win multiple championships, crowned jewel races and currently with Rev Racing and Nick Sanchez in the Truck Series, where they already have two wins to their credit in 2024.
Bono explains what makes Sanchez so good in qualifying, why the consistency the No. 2 team has showed, the stop/start nature of the Truck Series schedule and reflects on being in the sport for over two decades. He also dives into his upbringing in Massachusetts, who he started racing with, moving down south on a whim with Tommy Baldwin and the friends and racers that lived with the duo down in NC.
Bono wound up winning in his first ever start as a crew chief, at Daytona of all places, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. as the driver. He reflects on that day and getting paired up with Martin Truex Jr. at Chance 2 Motorsports (which he was hand picked to help start), where they won back-to-back championships to begin his full-time crew chiefing career. Bono and MTJ then moved up to the Cup Series together before Jamie McMurray came into the picture. Remember that storybook 2010 season? Bono does too, but it wasn't all good, as he explains.
He also touches on what made working at DEI so special, what working at so many different teams taught him as a crew chief, why he enjoys where he's at in the Truck Series with Spire/Rev, being the class clown of the team and pulling pranks on his people, expectations for the No. 2 team for the rest of 2024, what else he wants to accomplish in his NASCAR career and where the nickname "Bono" actually derived from.
Papa Segal pays homage to Ernie Irvan and Davey discusses Austin Cindric's surprise Gateway win, NASCAR granting Kyle Larson a playoff waiver and looks ahead to Sonoma.