New crew chief for Kyle Busch

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Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) announces today that Dave Rogers will be assuming the duties as crew chief for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series No. 18 Toyota starting with the November 8 race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Steve Addington, who has served as crew chief for the No. 18 team the previous five seasons will be reassigned to a position within JGR following this weekend's race at Talladega Superspeedway.

Rogers is currently in his fourth season as crew chief on the No. 20 NASCAR Nationwide Series entry for JGR. He led the team to JGR's first Nationwide Series Owner's Championship in 2008 amassing nine victories, six poles, 16 top-five finishes and 26 top-10 finishes despite utilizing four different drivers over the course of the season. The team has captured another five wins thus far this season under Rogers' leadership. He first joined JGR in 1998 and spent six seasons from 1999 to 2004 working under Greg Zipadelli with the No. 20 team, including the team's 2002 Championship season.

When the No. 11 car driven by Jason Leffler was introduced in 2005 as JGR's third NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team, Rogers was tabbed as crew chief. Mike Ford would later step into that role midway through the 2005 season and Rogers moved back into the JGR engineering department. Prior to the 2006 season Rogers would move over to JGR's Nationwide Series program and has since guided the team to 20 victories over the past four seasons.

"We evaluate all of our teams on an ongoing basis and believe this is a change that will make the 18 team stronger as we prepare for next season," said J.D. Gibbs, president of JGR. "We think highly of Steve and the job he has done and we look forward to him remaining a part of the JGR family.

"Dave has proven himself a talented crew chief and we think he will work well with Kyle. We hope that by making the move following this weekend's race at Talladega they can use the final three weeks of this season to begin working on communication and setups for the 2010 season."

~Joe Gibbs Racing~


12 wins in under 2 years and you get fired? Really?

Personally, if I was Addington, I'd be happy. As hateful as Kyle gets on the radio, I'd be glad to not have to put up with him anymore.

Steve, come on to FORD. We can use a GOOD CC with that great record.

That's the only reasoning I'm thinking of. I can't imagine Steve loving Kyle throwing a fit every single week.

Somehow he must not have minded it too much or else there would have been major issues. Imho that is the wrong decision for JGR unless they put Zippy or another CC that can help him mature. This was bound to happen with Kyle's maturity. Not Steve's fault by far

Personally I think that's the wrong move. I've always thought that the two of them had pretty good chemistry.... Maybe I'm wrong?
I think if Kyle cuts back on all his extra non Cup activities (Truck and NW) he'd be able to focus 100% on him main job CUP. I think he just spreads himself too thin. His main goal is to get to 200 NASCAR wins as fast as possible. This season so he been in 75 races..... not to mention all the practices and qualifying for each race. That is a load.

I think it's ironic that the 2 Cup drivers that are running for NW Championship just haven't done very well in Cup this year. Yeah Kyle has 4 wins but couldn't make the Chase and Edwards has 0 wins. I think both of them could benefit if they reduced there schedule. ~JMO

Running the full Nationwide schedule didn't hurt Carl in Cup last year. 9 wins, 8 top-3 finishes in the 10 Chase races (and bad luck in the other 2)... 2nd in points. That's pretty solid...


Carl's lack of performance is due to the bad cars that Roush Fenway is sending to the track and nothing more in my opinion.

TeamBlueOval wrote:

Running the full Nationwide schedule didn't hurt Carl in Cup last year. 9 wins, 8 top-3 finishes in the 10 Chase races (and bad luck in the other 2)... 2nd in points. That's pretty solid...

Amazing that with those stats, he still couldn't win the championship... Just shows you how much Jimmie and Chad have the Chase figured out.

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Running the full Nationwide schedule didn't hurt Carl in Cup last year. 9 wins, 8 top-3 finishes in the 10 Chase races (and bad luck in the other 2)... 2nd in points. That's pretty solid...

True.

But running 2 years in a row... I'm not so sure. I know the cars have been bad this year. Next year may be different. We shall see.

Addington does not sound like a very happy man... READ HERE

TeamBlueOval wrote:

Addington does not sound like a very happy man... READ HERE

Looks like someone at Hendricks is trying to get him on board. My guess is Jr. What would be your guess?

If he went to Hendrick, I'm sure that it would be with Junior; however, they just announced today that Lance McGrew will be the new full time crew chief on the 88.

Can't say I blame him for being upset. I can see him going to Penske.

DeeDee wrote:

Can't say I blame him for being upset. I can see him going to Penske.

and what driver?

Well, Penske needs to replace Pat Tryson at the 2 car and needs a new CC for Keselowski and the 12.

TeamBlueOval wrote:

Well, Penske needs to replace Pat Tryson at the 2 car and needs a new CC for Keselowski and the 12.

Than I would have to say your guess was the most logical one.

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Kurt Busch talks about progress on new crew chief: from a Dodge Motorsports Notes & Quotes - Kurt Busch [#2 Miller Lite Dodge] Open Interview - Talladega:
WHERE DOES YOUR TEAM STAND WITH GETTING A NEW CREW CHIEF FOR NEXT YEAR? IS THERE ANY INTEREST IN STEVE ADDINGTON?
Kurt Busch: "I feel like what we've done internally at Penske Racing has been smart; we've been patient. We still find ourselves with an outside shot at the championship and that's what we're going to base our decision off of when we do make a change or move somebody in. A guy like Steve Addington, to hear the news, you have to talk to a guy like J.D. Gibbs before you move on and find out what the story is and if he's available. Those are the types of guys we'd love to talk to and see if we can match up."(Dodge Motorsports)(10-31-2009)

Kurt Busch is NOT easy to deal with on the radio either, but there's an opening and it's a Championship caliber ride. Steve has done an excellent job- I'm really surprised they would make this change.

Kurt is just as bad if not worse than Kyle on the radio... just look at some clips up on YouTube showing Kurt yelling like a maniac! That makes it even more amazing that Jimmy Fennig was able to get him to focus enough to be able to win the 2004 title.

TeamBlueOval wrote:

Well, Penske needs to replace Pat Tryson at the 2 car and needs a new CC for Keselowski and the 12.

Addington moving on UPDATE: during the Ford 400 Sprint Cup Series qualifying at Monestead-Miami Speedway, Andy Petree of ESPN2 reported that Steve Addington, former crew chief for #128-Kyle Busch at Joe Gibbs Racing, informed JGR he woul leave and is moving on. No word what team or job he is going to.(11-20-2009)
UPDATE: Bob Dillner reported on the SPEED Report that Addington is talking to Penske Racing about being #2-Kurt Busch's crew chief in 2010, supposedly the hold up is that Addington wants a 3-year contract. Have also heard Addington is under consideration to be Brad Keselowski's crew chief in Penske's #12 Dodge. No word what plans are for current #12 crew chief Roy McCauley.(11-24-2009)

I'd say if he goes to Penske he should keep working with Busch