Search any sporting venue, from the hard nosed gridiron action of the National Football League, across the grass diamonds of Major League Baseball, to the polished hardwood floors of the National Basketball Association – and you will find determined contestants hell bent on vanquishing their opponents. It is a special breed whose competitive fires burn brighter and hotter than those around them. Explore any contest where winning and losing are serious business, and you will find no more intense combatant than NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Crew Chief Danny Gill.

“I am probably the most competitive person you will ever meet,” Gill says with a matter of fact tone that characterizes his persona. “I can’t stand to get beat leaving a red light, I can’t stand to get beat getting thru traffic, I can’t stand to lose a card game. I just want to win at anything I am doing. I don’t know what drives me to want to do that so badly, but having that drive and that determination is what makes me work the long hours and do whatever it takes to put us in victory lane because if I am not in victory lane then I am not happy.”

Victory lane is a place that Gill knows well. He has been there 8 times as a crew chief and ranks 10th all time in NCTS crew chief career wins. Gill won NCTS races with Joe Ruttman and Robert Pressley Jr. at Bobby Hamilton Racing, and he came within a horse whisker of winning the NCTS championship with Dennis Setzer at Morgan-Dollar Motorsports in both 2003 and 2004. In 2003 he and Setzer teamed up for three wins, 15 top-five finishes and 23 top-10 finishes and came within a scant 9 points of the series crown. The next year the duo won two races and lost the championship by only 46 markers to his current boss, Bobby Hamilton Sr.

“I have a long history with Bobby Sr., we have been through a lot,” Gill recalls. “I have raced with him and against him. I have watched him my whole career. Throughout his career and mine, we have been linked together whether it was when I was a rear tire carrier for him when I was 12 years old during the first time he ran the All American 400 at the old Nashville Fairgrounds track, or when I was one of the first employees at BHR when we started and founded it back in 1998. I have always worked very well with Bobby Hamilton Sr. Over the years I have left a couple of times to go out and pursue other opportunities when the grass seemed greener, but the grass is never greener than back at home. Right now with Bobby and his current situation I wouldn’t consider being any other place than BHR.”

Gill is currently serving as the crew chief on the No. 18 Fastenal Dodge with driver Bobby Hamilton Jr. He knows his biggest task is to get the Fastenal Racing team back winning races in the dominating style that has served as a BHR trademark for years. From the 2000 season until the end of the 2005 campaign, BHR took home 19 checkered flags and was constantly a factor in the championship hunt.

“The biggest challenge we have with the Fastenal Dodge team right now is to get our momentum going,” Gill said from the team’s Mt. Juliet, TN shop.  “If you can get momentum going in this sport then you can keep it going. This past weekend at Nashville we got a little momentum going, we got the guys encouraged. Racing is all that I think about. I eat, sleep and breathe racing. I am constantly trying to figure out how to be faster or quicker or find a way in the rule book that allows us to win.”

As a graduate of Middle Tennessee State with a degree in business administration, the 37 year-old Murfreesboro, TN native has been considered by many to be a “thinking man’s crew chief.” He knows that a lot of a team’s success comes from what goes on between the crew’s ears instead of what type of wrench is in their hands.

“The mental aspects play a huge role in the sport we are in,” Gill says. “Always thinking, always trying to find a competitive advantage is what pays off with success. The minute you stop thinking or stop trying to find that competitive advantage and you think that what you have is all that you need is when you start to get beat. Dealing with people is the toughest part of my job. When you are that competitive and that intense a person, a lot of times you come off harsher to individuals around you than perhaps you intended to be. I have to work very hard to be both competitive and motivational to those around me.”

Motivating his current driver has not been a problem for Gill. When he and Hamilton Jr. worked together earlier this year at Daytona they were right in the mix up to the end before claiming a hard fought 7th place finish. He has full confidence in Hamilton Jr.’s abilities.

“The thing about Bobby Jr. is that when he is out there he is going to get the absolute most out of his equipment,” Gill states. “The biggest thing that I have seen him improve on is to be able to get the most out of what he has without tearing up his equipment and allowing the team to work on it and get it better. He has just really matured as a driver this year and over the past couple of years by doing that. I can’t think of anybody I would rather have in the seat right now. He is fearless as a driver.”

For Gill the next race is always the most important race and in this instance the next race is at one of his favorite venues. Bristol Motor Speedway, affectionately known as the fastest half mile racetrack in the world.

“I am really excited about going to Bristol,” Gill admits. “I have always run well there in the past. Bobby Jr. and I unloaded second fastest there last year with the Cup program and we had only been together for a handful of weeks. I was really encouraged by how well we performed there, how fast the car was and how well he gets around there. He is not noted to be a short track driver but he has a pole this year at Martinsville, a top ten there, and he ran well at Memphis so I am really excited about going to Bristol with him. The thing about Bristol is that it is a short track but it is so fast and that excites him. Anywhere you can go fast is good for him because that’s what he likes to do. It is also a momentum type racetrack and he tends to really do well on those.  He has learned that from his father, to be a momentum type racer. Just going to Bristol is special, it is our home state and our home fans. It’s like going to Neyland Stadium at the University of Tennessee except with a track and race cars in the middle.”

The O’Reilly 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Bristol Motor Speedway is slated for Wednesday August 23rd at 9:00pm ET. All the action will be broadcast live nationally on Speed, MRN Radio and XM Satellite Radio.