Birthday: October 24, 1992
Hometown: Sayreville, NJ
Residence: Concord, NC
Home Track: Wall Stadium, New Jersey
Favorite RCR Paint Schemes: Kevin Harvick’s 2006 GM Goodwrench scheme
RCR Job Role: Mechanic on the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet driven by Austin Dillon in the NASCAR Cup Series.
SJ Golembeski grew up in Sayreville, New Jersey in the Northeast Modified racing scene. Golembeski comes from a racing family. His father, Steve, raced Modifieds at Wall Stadium for many years. The Golembeski family introduced their young son to motorsports early, with Golembeski making the trek with his parents to his first NASCAR race at Richmond Raceway at just three months old. The Golembeski family spent every Saturday night in the stands at Wall Stadium and traveled to NASCAR races at Richmond and Martinsville Speedway regularly.
“Racing is all I’ve ever known and a job in racing was the only thing I wanted to do,” Golembeski said.
At age 14, Golembeski got the opportunity to work in motorsports for a local New Jersey modified team driven by Jamie Tomaino in the NASCAR Whelen Modified tour. Steve Golembeski knew Tomaino from his driving days at Wall Stadium. In 2007, Steve and SJ got the opportunity to work for Tomaino Racing together, further tightening the father-son racing bond. SJ worked his way up to a tire specialist for the NJ-based team, performing tire dismounts, mounting tires, setting pressures, and measuring stagger. He learned quickly how important tires were to race cars and how quickly things could change the handling of the car. Golembeski has brought that same process and mindset into his NASCAR career. Golembeski’s hard-working, never-give-up attitude drew the attention of Modified racing legend and NASCAR Cup Series former car owner/winning crew chief Tommy Baldwin, leading to Golembeski’s move to North Carolina in 2012. He accepted a job as a tire specialist on the No. 7 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Cup Series. Golembeski spent a few years at Tommy Baldwin Racing working with a variety of drivers and crew chiefs and expanding his knowledge of how to work on Cup cars. In 2015, Golembeski got the call to join one of the most iconic teams in NASCAR history- Richard Childress Racing – on the No. 33 Chevrolet driven by Ty Dillon and Brian Scott. Golembeski worked his way through the ranks quickly and was picked to be the tire specialist on the No. 3 Chevrolet driven by Austin Dillon. Golembeski continues to work with Dillon and has been a part of multiple NASCAR Cup Series wins by No. 3 Chevrolet, including the 2018 Daytona 500.
“Winning the Daytona 500 is a huge accomplishment,” Golembeski said after the victory celebration at Daytona International Speedway. “It’s the biggest race of the year. Everyone in racing wants to win it, even people that barely know anything about racing know about the Daytona 500.”
After spending the majority of his time on the No. 3 car as a tire specialist, in 2024 Golembeski moved into a new role as a mechanic on the legendary car. Golembeski works closely with the crew chief Justin Alexander, car chief Ryan Chism, and mechanic Shawn Hopkins on preparing the chassis in the shop for upcoming races. His at-track duties include setting up the car and making sure all the mechanical parts underneath Dillon’s Chevrolet are ready to race and passes NASCAR’s safety checks for 38 race weekends.
Golembeski spends his time away from the track with his wife, Ashley, son, Steph, and twin daughters, Blaze and Blair, at home in Concord, NC. Golembeski still has strong ties to his grassroots racing background and pitches in to help his friends any chance he can in the NASCAR Whelen Modified tour when they race every year at Martinsville Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway during companion race weekends with the NASCAR Cup Series.
