Brandon Pope
Race Engineer, No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil/Hunt Brothers Pizza//Pennzoil/Autotrader/AAA Ford Mustang

Brandon "Shaggy" Pope enters his ninth season in 2024 as a race engineer for Team Penske's NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) program and he hopes to be part of another championship effort with the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil/Hunt Brothers Pizza//Pennzoil/Autotrader/AAA Ford Mustang team.

Pope, a native of Monroe, N.C., has played a key role in Team Penske's recent NASCAR success. In 2023, driver Joey Logano and the No. 22 Ford team won from the pole at Atlanta, which paved the way for a return to the NCS Playoffs. With Pope, crew chief Paul Wolfe and the team focused on defending their 2022 Cup Series title, Logano had another solid season with 11 top-five and 17 top-10 results as he finished 12th in the series standings. 

In the debut season of NASCAR's NexGen era in 2022, the No. 22 team won four races while compiling 11 top fives, 17 top 10s, four pole awards, and 784 laps led en route to winning the Cup Series championship. Logano's four race wins marked his most in a single season since 2015 - while also winning the inaugural Clash at the Coliseum in the first-ever race for the NexGen car. Logano also won the inaugural Cup Series race at Gateway in June before clinching his fifth-career Championship 4 appearance with a win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the No. 22 Pennzoil Ford Mustang.

In 2021, Pope and the No. 22 team captured a win in the inaugural Cup Series dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway. The victory and consistent performances throughout the season allowed the Shell-Pennzoil team to earn a spot in the NCS Playoffs, where they enjoyed another solid post-season run. The No. 22 Ford Mustang and Logano advanced to the Round of 8 in the Playoffs before finishing eighth in the final series standings.

The 2020 season marked the first for Pope and Wolfe working with Logano. After posting three race victories, Logano raced into the Championship 4 at Phoenix and closed the season third in the final points standings.

Prior to joining the No. 22 Ford Mustang team, Pope served as race engineer on Team Penske's winning No. 2 Ford Mustang team, working alongside Wolfe and driver Brad Keselowski.

Racing has been central to Pope's life from the very beginning. His father began racing late models at Concord (N.C.) Motor Speedway when he was just one-month old. Since then Pope traveled with his family to race tracks around the country.

He spent six seasons (1999-2004) driving late models before turning his attention to racecar engineering. Pope admits there was no plan to attend college but that changed after his mother threated to cease the family racing operation unless he enrolled in school. He chose the University of North Carolina Charlotte (UNCC) where he earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering as he continued to work on his father's race cars.

Pope got his big break when he joined Darrell Waltrip Motorsports where he did paint and body work for the team. He also expanded his skill set to include shock specialist and tire specialist duties. Pope then moved to Michael Waltrip Racing where he served in various engineering capacities for the next 11 seasons, highlighted by Martin Truex Jr.'s victory at Sonoma Raceway in 2013.

Pope and his wife, Cassi, reside in Mount Pleasant, N.C., with their children Caitlyn and Blaze. The family also consists of two dogs - Ringo and Cassie, and two cats - Alice and Moon Pie. In addition to spending time with family, Pope enjoys the outdoors and target shooting when he is away from the track. He also raises chickens and tends to a family garden.