Chip Bowers was with the Golden State Warriors when they won three NBA championships.
While RFK Racing searches for its first Cup victory of the season, Chip Bowers, the team’s new president, is planning for the organization’s next championship.
Bowers, whose hiring was announced last week, comes to NASCAR after stints with multiple sports teams, including a stretch with the Golden State Warriors when they won three NBA championships.
That championship experience is among the things Bowers will take to his new role with RFK Racing.
“To use a Malcolm Gladwell point of view is we’re going to prepare ourselves for the tipping point,” he told NBC Sports, noting Gladwell’s book about how little things can make a big difference.
"We’re going to operate as if we’re going to win a Cup championship. We’re going to operate as if we’re going to win every single week, so that when we accomplish that, which we will, then we’ll be able to capitalize and compound on all the success this organization has had, creating that sustainability that we’re looking for and really, at the end of the day, prove the authenticity of our message to everyone that’s paying attention. That’s our number one objective.”
Bowers, who was at Kansas Speedway last weekend in his first race as RFK Racing president, comes to an organization that has gone more than a year since its last Cup victory. RFK Racing last won the Cup title in 2004 with Kurt Busch. Since, the organization has finished second in the driver points four times, the last time in 2011 when Carl Edwards lost the championship to Tony Stewart on a tiebreaker.
Five races remain in the Cup season, beginning with Sunday’s race at the Charlotte Roval (3 p.m. ET on USA Network). RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher is 17th in the points, Ryan Preece is 18th and team co-owner Brad Keselowski is 19th. Buescher missed the playoffs by 31 points. The team’s last victory came September 2024 at Watkins Glen by Buescher. The team has had four runner-ups since.
Bowers takes over the role vacated by Steve Newmark, who left to become the executive associate athletic director at the University of North Carolina (and move into the athletic director's role next year). Newmark had been the president of RFK Racing for nearly 15 years before his departure.
Bowers has had roles with the Orlando Magic, Seattle SuperSonics and Golden State in the NBA, the Miami Marlins and San Diego Padres in Major League Baseball and the Seattle Storm of the WNBA.
Among his roles, Bowers led the marketing department at the Golden State Warriors, served as president of the Marlins and most recently was president of Elevate, a global company that specializes in fan-first strategies for companies and brands.
His lessons from those championship years with Golden State?
“It’s total organization alignment,” he said. “ … At the end of the day that ability for us to work closely together so that they understand and have empathy for the role that the people off the track have and as an organization we have empathy and understanding of the things that they’re trying to accomplish on the track and that we are collectively trying to do everything we can to get people there.
“That comes with very transparent communication. It comes with a lot of understanding. It comes with a lot of asking questions and listening first and talking and acting second. I think that’s the key to any great organization is that people feel valued, they feel heard, they feel supported and at the end of the day, they know that from top down we say and do things in a collective manner, which is we’re here to be a championship caliber organization. That is the expectation. Here’s how we’re going to accomplish that.
“This is what we’re looking for you to do day in and day out and so it becomes part of your DNA. It’s how we hire. It’s how we think about scaling the organization. What does this mean to us? Does this allow us to reach our goals and objectives of winning on the track and off the track? So that when we do that work and we fulfill our promise internally, it makes it a lot easier for us to do the same externally and that makes it a lot easier for our fans to embrace and believe in the direction of this organization as well as our partners.”
Category: General Sports
