Travis Geisler
Vice President of Competition, NASCAR
Entering the 2026 season, Travis Geisler begins his 16th year leading the competition side of Team Penske's championship-winning NASCAR programs.
As vice president of competition, Geisler oversees the organization's NASCAR competition operations, serving as a key liaison between the team's crew chiefs and engineering departments. He reports directly to Team Penske President of NASCAR Operations, Michael Nelson.
A native of the Pittsburgh area, Geisler comes from a racing family. His father, Lynn, was a successful dirt Late Model competitor and is a member of the Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame. Geisler began racing go-karts at age 14 before moving to dirt Late Models two years later. He later advanced to NASCAR's Weekly Racing Series, where he competed for four seasons. In his final year in the division at Motordrome Speedway, Geisler won seven of 17 races and finished second in the championship standings.
After earning a degree in mechanical engineering from Vanderbilt University, Geisler continued his driving career with select starts in the Auto Zone Elite Series and the ARCA Menards Series. In 2004, he competed in a dozen races in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series for DCT Motorsports while also working full time in the team's race shop.
Geisler joined Robert Yates Racing in 2006 as a race engineer in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series before transitioning to the organization's NASCAR Cup Series program later that season. He was hired by Team Penske in November 2006 as team engineer for the No. 12 Cup Series entry and was promoted to crew chief of the No. 77 Cup Series team midway through the 2008 season. Following the 2010 NASCAR season, Geisler was named NASCAR competition director, a role that has since evolved into his current position.
Under Geisler's leadership, Team Penske's NASCAR programs have captured five Cup Series championships and multiple O'Reilly Auto Parts Series titles, reinforcing the organization's standing as one of the sport's premier competition operations.
Geisler and his wife, Carrie, have two sons, Noah and Evan, and reside in Davidson, N.C.