Crew Chief Shear Joins Short List With Second Truck Crown

Joe Shear Jr. earned his second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship as a crew chief Friday night at Phoenix Raceway. (Rusty Jarrett/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

AVONDALE, Ariz. – When crew chief Joe Shear Jr. was first paired with Ty Majeski at the start of the 2022 season, the second-generation short tracker knew he had something special in a fellow Midwestern racer who was all business behind the wheel.

Fast forward two years, and the duo of Shear and Majeski cashed in a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship together with a master-class performance at Phoenix Raceway.

In a No. 98 Road Ranger Ford F-150 that was described by its driver over the radio at one point as “tuned to perfection,” Majeski led 132 of 150 laps for his sixth career Truck Series victory – a win that awarded Majeski his first driver’s title in just his third full season.

But behind the scenes, the championship was perhaps even more meaningful, as it gave Shear his second Truck Series crown as a crew chief and made him one of just seven signal-callers in Truck Series history to secure multiple titles.

“It’s awesome to do this with Ty; he’s pretty spectacular,” said Shear as Majeski celebrated on the frontstretch. “He knows exactly what he wants out of the truck, and he gives me great feedback, which is exactly what you want in my position to be able to give him what he needs. We’re continuing to make a good notebook together, and all this stuff is falling exactly how we hoped it would this season.

“I think this was a statement tonight, what we did here.”

Shear’s championship run with Majeski continued a theme, as his first Truck Series title in 2016 came with veteran Johnny Sauter, another Wisconsin-born driver who cut his teeth on bullrings across the Midwest.

It’s that kind of hard-nosed, blue-collar, “get it done” attitude that seems to have always benefited Shear when he’s working with someone from atop the pit box. In all, he has 30 wins, 22 poles, and 201 top-10 finishes in 373 Truck Series races as a crew chief – the lion’s share coming with Majeski and Sauter.

“I didn’t know Ty very well when he first came to ThorSport, but I knew of him, and I had talked to him before,” Shear recalled. “Obviously, I follow the short track racing in Wisconsin and across the country, and when you have a talented driver like Ty you want to be paired up with him.

“I’ve been lucky pretty much all my career. I’ve had pretty good drivers. With a good team and good drivers and good people around you, championships like this are won,” Shear added. “Every year that I do this, I feel like it gets tougher and tougher, and the competition gets closer and closer. … It’s not easy to win a bunch of races like this. It all comes down to manufacturing and people and putting stuff together the right way. You have to really earn them now.

“We got going at the right time at the end of the year and put it all together.

Ty Majeski (left) and Joe Shear Jr. (Nigel Kinrade photo)

Majeski drives hard and Shear calls the races aggressively. Combined, it’s a recipe for success, especially given that all three of Majeski’s wins during the season came on tracks one mile or less in length.

“We’re both short track aces. We come from that background,” explained Shear. “We really run pretty strong everywhere, but short tracks are our forte. I take it personally because I really love short track races, so I take it personally to make the trucks handle good and give everything to Ty that he wants.

“He gives great feedback to us. He knows what he wants, so I try to give that to him. The combination works very well.”

Though Sauter was a strong personality and often outspoken, Majeski contrasts as a quieter personality who lets his on-track success do the talking.

He’s not afraid to learn from his mistakes, either, a selflessness that Shear believes has been key to his driver’s growth.

“Ty is pretty good at [keeping a level head]. He’s a very humble guy. He’s very smart and he knows what he wants,” noted Shear. “Basically, he tells me what he’s feeling and what he wants to do, and then I use my experience to put the pieces together and get him headed in the right direction.

“If something doesn’t go quite right, we learn from it and come back stronger, and I think you saw that this year with how we got better through the summer and into the fall.”

Though he’s usually somewhat stoic during races, Shear’s anxiety in the closing laps – as he prayed for green-flag conditions to carry to the finish – was palpable.

The gush of emotions and relief was just as visible, though, when Majeski finally took the checkered flag.

“Some of the cautions helped us because we had to go a long time on tires there, but we got that long run in at the end and I was pretty happy. Our stuff was pretty good on the long runs,” Shear said. “I definitely was praying at the end not to have a caution, though, because it puts you in a box with these short races in the Truck Series and not having a lot of time to come back with tires.

“Winning these championships is really hard to do. I don’t know if I’m really emotional … but it’s that realization that you’ve got to be perfect. Everything has got to be perfect to do this,” he added. “It takes a lot of effort and a lot of hours and a lot of time and a lot of really good people to get to where we are tonight.

“It’s rewarding when you put it all together, and I definitely appreciate this moment coming back around again.”

Shear will be honored alongside Majeski for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship on Friday, Nov. 22 during the NASCAR Awards at the Grand Ballroom inside the NASCAR Hall of Fame and Charlotte Convention Center.