NASCAR's turn 5. Whats your take on all the Crew Chiefs changes????

[B][SIZE=“3”]For all of us that love the our Sport. From the Short Tracks to top of the ladder NASCAR. NASCAR’s turn 5 question. What’s up with all the changes in Crew Chiefs?

1.Darian Grubb
2.Steve Addington
3.DREW BLICKENSDERFER
4. Have YOU heard of any others???

  1. Darian Grubb goes from Winning the Championship Team with SMOKE and may be going to Hendrick.

Darian Grubb may be out at Stewart-Haas Racing, but Rick Hendrick has told Tony Stewart’s former crew chief that there will be a place for him at Hendrick Motorsports – although it’s unclear if Grubb would be willing to take a step down to return to the organization he once called home.

Grubb on Monday was formally released as Stewart’s crew chief, making final a decision the driver/owner had made midway through this recent Chase and kept to despite the pair winning the Sprint Cup championship together. Steve Addington, formerly Kurt Busch’s crew chief at Penske Racing, will replace Grubb, who had been on the box for Stewart since Stewart-Haas Racing was formed prior to the 2009 campaign.

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I hope Darian ends up back with us, and I think he would help our organization a lot. But I’m not sure if he wants to be a crew chief. We don’t have that spot.
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– RICK HENDRICKBefore that, Grubb worked at Hendrick, where he was an engineer on Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 team, and won two races – including the Daytona 500 – while regular crew chief Chad Knaus was serving a NASCAR-mandated suspension. Grubb also won the Coca-Cola 600 while working as crew chief to former Hendrick driver Casey Mears in 2007. Grubb went on to win 11 more races with Stewart, whose team uses chassis and engines supplied by Hendrick.

Hendrick said he and Grubb have talked, but that Hendrick does not currently have a crew chief position available. An engineering role, though, is there if Grubb wants it.

“I have had discussions with Darian,” Hendrick said in a conference call with reporters. “When he left, we told him we’d always have a place for him if he wanted to come back. Darian is a very smart guy. I know he’s entertaining a lot of offers out there. We don’t have a crew chief role. We have an engineering role that we think Darian would be really good in. But at the end of the day it’s got to be what Darian wants to do. I know he is close to all of our people and our guys are close to him. We’d love to have him back in the organization, but I quite honestly don’t know where he’s going to end up. We would like to have him, but whether or not he’s going to decide he wants to be in the role we’ve offered him or he wants to do something somewhere else, I’m just not sure.”

Hendrick shuffled three of his four crew chiefs prior to this past season, which resulted in improved efforts for Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick reiterated Monday that Johnson and Knaus would remain together for next year. Kasey Kahne is joining Hendrick for the 2012 season, replacing Mark Martin in the No. 5 car, but bringing crew chief Kenny Francis along with him. That doesn’t leave much room for a crew chief with a championship on his resume, something Hendrick concedes.

“Darian is a very smart guy and a very capable guy, and he will do well anywhere he goes,” Hendrick said. "Whatever driver [he works with] or whatever position he’s in, he’s a very talented guy. And we’ll just have to wait and see, but like I said before, you just can’t go get a guy out of one organization and stick him in another organization and he’s going to be the fix-all. I don’t think that happens that way. It takes a combination of a lot of things. And the cars are so close anyway. The area for us to work in is so small with the new car, the way NASCAR’s rules are written. It comes down to mainly the personalities and the communication between the engineers, the crew chiefs, the driver and the team, the chief mechanics, everybody working together.

“So I don’t have any idea. I hope Darian ends up back with us, and I think he would help our organization a lot. But I’m not sure if he wants to be a crew chief. We don’t have that spot. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
Now thats going to be interesting for sure.

What’s your 2 cents on it?

  1. Steve Addington leaves the Kurt Busch to go to SMOKE!
    I think that will be a lot easier on Steve working for SMOKE than Kurt for sure.

What’s your 2 cents on it?

3.Richard Childress Racing has named Drew Blickensderfer as the crew chief for the No. 31 team with driver Jeff Burton for the 2012 Sprint Cup Series season.
I think that Jeff is one of the most under rated Driver in NASCAR. Maybe this will give him the boost he needs to get back on top.

What’s your 2 cents on it?

Do you know of any other changes?
GOooooo NASCAR GOoooo!!! Just 81 Days left!!![/SIZE][/B]:confused::sport009::huepfen024::):ernaehrung004:

Grubb’s gonna be OK. I hope Tony gave him a big bonus before he left, and someone out there will pick him up. I don’t think we know all the story about that deal, and probably never will.

If I were Penske, I’d have gotten rid of Kurt and kept Steve Addington. While I kinda like the new Tony, I don’t think he’s easy to work for either.

I have no opinion about the others. I wish every one the best. billy

I can,t think of a better way to get information on what other teams are doing than to hire their crew chiefs. This might explain why some teams that stick together are more successful than others. On the other hand if I had a crew chief who knew he was on his way out and proceed to win 5 races and a championship I would find a place for him if for no other reason I don’t want to race against him.

I was kind of surprised about grubb leaving stewart hass completely, I figured they would bring steve addington in for smoke and make grubb the competition director since they don’t have one. I’m sure grubb will find a job and it will probably be at hendricks. Grubb proved he knows how to make hendrick cars win this season!

Add Kevin Haevick to the list getting New Crew Chief.

[B][SIZE=“3”]Add Kevin Harvick to the list.
4. Shane Wilson will move from the No. 33 to the same position with the No. 29 team and driver Kevin Harvick.

To me it looked like Clint had a pretty good year (even though just missing the Chase). Kevin’s last three years have been in the hunt,but just couldn’t close the deal. Maybe the change to Shane will give the #29 Team an edge. They are moving people within RCR. I bet Kevin will make the Chase again.

What’s your 2 cents worth?

  1. Oh yeah Kurt Busch needs a new Crew Chief.

(Quote for NASCAR NEWS: Kurt Busch is hoping continuing sessions with a sports psychologist will not only help him refocus his efforts inside the cockpit, but will perhaps alleviate some of the issues he’s had after climbing out of it.)

My pick would be Dr. Phill. I can just hear him say “BOY WHAT WERE YOU THINKING”. Just don’t know if Roger can afford his salary.

How would you put as Kurt’s New Crew Chief.

Have you heard of the next domino to fall???
GOooo NASCAR GOoooo!!![/SIZE][/B]
:auto003::sport009::auto003::sport009::confused:

Add the #11 Hamlin Toyota to losing his Crew Chief.

[B][SIZE=“3”]Ford out as crew chief for Hamlin, No. 11
By David Caraviello, NASCAR.COM
December 06, 2011 9:41 PM, EST

Mike Ford, the crew chief who led Denny Hamlin to the brink of a Sprint Cup championship one year ago, is no longer in that position.

Joe Gibbs Racing announced Tuesday that Ford has been released as Hamlin’s crew chief, capping a fall from a near championship-winning effort in 2010 to a 2011 campaign where the No. 11 team needed a wild card entry just to make the Chase. Ford and Hamlin had been a team since the driver first moved up to NASCAR’s Cup Series on a limited basis in 2005, and together they won 17 races and qualified for the postseason every year since 2006.
“I’m kind of relieved. It had been dragging on for so long, I’m actually relieved there’s finally a resolution”.

“Everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing appreciates what Mike has done for our organization over the past six seasons as crew chief with our No. 11 team,” said team owner Joe Gibbs in a statement. “We’ve decided it was best to make a change with the team now to allow Mike the opportunity to pursue other opportunities.”

While there was no official word as to who would be Ford’s successor, all indications pointed toward JGR reaching out to Darian Grubb – the crew chief who was recently fired from Tony Stewart’s No. 14 team, despite winning the Sprint Cup title. Grubb does have a standing offer from Hendrick Motorsports, where he worked prior to joining Stewart-Haas Racing, although that is for an engineering position and not a crew chief’s job.

In their six years together, Hamlin and Ford had a successful, but sometimes turbulent, coexistence. When the wins came, they did so in bunches, as evidenced by the 12 races they won together in the 2009 and '10 seasons. But the No. 11 team was also often plagued by mechanical issues and pit stop problems, and lost the 2010 championship in part because it didn’t save fuel in that season’s penultimate event at Phoenix. Rather than burying the competition, that misstep allowed Jimmie Johnson to pull within 15 points and overtake Hamlin for his fifth title the next week.

Ford has worked as a crew chief on NASCAR’s premier circuit for 12 seasons, dating back to the 2000 campaign with Bill Elliott. He has also worked with past series champions Dale Jarrett and Terry Labonte, as well as former Gibbs drivers Jason Leffler and J.J. Yeley. Ford righted the Gibbs No. 11 team after a tumultuous beginning with Leffler, bringing stability to the program and eventually finding success with Hamlin. Ford has won 21 total races during his dozen years as a crew chief on the Cup Series.

IT’S A business. IF YOUR NOT WINNING THEY WILL MAKE A CHANGE!!!

With all the changes at Penske. Who’s your choose forDriver and Crew Chief.
I would like to see David R and Darian Grubb![/SIZE][/B]