While Jimmie Johnson rode to glory and a fifth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title this season, his teammates at Hendrick Motorsports sat on the sidelines.
Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt Jr., all went the entire season without a victory and only Gordon made it into the final ten race Chase for the championship. He finished the season ninth in the final standings.
Everyone knew a change would be forthcoming in the off season, especially for Earnhardt who has won only one race since he joined the NASCAR powerhouse in 2008.
But no one expected what happened Tuesday. Hendrick announced that not only would Earnhardt be getting a new crew chief, all three drivers would be swapping crews chiefs and even moving among shops within the massive Hendrick Motorsports complex in Concord North Carolina.
Heading into next season, Earnhardt will now be paired with crew chief Steve Letarte, formally with Jeff Gordon. In addition, Earnhardt will move into the shop once occupied by four time champion Gordon and which Gordon has shared with this year’s champion Jimmie Johnson for years.
Gordon will get crew chief Alan Gustafson who sat atop the pit box directing Mark Martin. Gordon will move into the shop Earnhardt once called home. Martin meanwhile will spend what will most likely be his last full time season before Kasey Kahne takes over with
Lance McGrew who was Earnhardt’s crew chief.
"This will improve us as an organization, across the board," team owner Rick Hendrick said. "We had a championship season, but we weren't where we wanted and needed to be with all four teams. We've made the right adjustments, and I'm excited to go racing with this lineup."
Crew chief swaps and even team swaps are nothing new in NASCAR. Most recently Richard Childress Racing swapped crew chiefs among his drivers several times over the last few seasons. He also swapped entire crews. Those moves seemed to help as performance seemed to improve all around.
Hendrick most recently swapped an entire pit crew out. During the race at Texas, the pit crew of Johnson who had struggled during several stops was replaced by the crew from Gordon’s team. It was swap that stuck as the Gordon crew finished out the season in the No. 48 pits and helped Johnson win his fifth title.
The rest of NASCAR will no doubt be less excited and more curious to see how the new lineup will fare in 2011. But given the history of the past success of others and the recent success of their teammate coupled with the lack of performance of all three teams; wholesale changes like Hendrick announced Tuesday certainly won’t hurt.
For more NASCAR News and NASCAR Commentary, follow me on Twitter and Facebook or visit CupScene.com.
Comments