Keselowski Accuses Hendrick, Gibbs Of "Stealing" Employees

“Hendrick and Gibbs have this nasty little habit..."

Defending Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski accused two rival teams of “stealing away” employees from the Penske and Roush Fenway Racing teams, saying Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing exploit their larger budgets to pirate top talent from other operations.

Speaking with reporters following a Ford Motor Co. appearance in Dearborn, Mich., Thursday, Keselowski made it clear that Ford has been negatively impacted by the loss of at least two key employees.

“Hendrick and Gibbs have this nasty little habit of going to other teams, outbidding other people, taking employees and stealing our information,” said Keselowski, adding that Roush and Penske are now less willing to share information with each other, since a single employee defection results in the loss of chassis set-ups and other technology.

“When that happens, that puts walls up between the (Ford) camps, because you are giving up more than one piece of information,” he said. “You are giving up two companies' information. Trying to protect yourself against that forces you to put up walls.

Keselowski said Joe Gibbs Racing "stole” an aerodynamics director from Roush Fenway Racing last season, while “Hendrick took three employees from our Chase-winning team last year.

"There's a reason those two teams are higher up (in the standings) than us,” he claimed. “They have more money and sponsors to do so. It's almost like Major League Baseball; the Yankees and Red Sox are always going to outbid the Oakland Athletics. That's just part of the deal.

Keselowski said teams like Penske and Roush Fenway are forced to play “moneyball” – doing more with less resources, in order to compete.

"It is terrible," he said, “but it is what it is."

“I’m not sure that we benefitted greatly..."

Told of Keselowski’s comments, five-team series champion Jimmie Johnson defended his team today, saying employees routinely move from team to team, and that the individuals involved were not high-level employees.

“The real speed in any race car is within the engineers and the crew chiefs,” he said. “So, I don’t find a lot of merit in (Keselowski’s comments). We picked a guy up from Dodge (Penske’s 2012 manufacturer) who is on our engineering staff, but he wasn’t all that close within the race team. From a crew member standpoint, we do have a mechanic that came over from Roush last year.

“I’m not sure that we benefitted greatly from those situations.”

He also said that high-value employees are generally signed to long-term contracts, preventing them from jumping from team to team.

“The best employees are under long-term contracts, so I can’t go get the best Penske guys or Roush guys,” he said. “They can’t come get (our) best pit crew guys. That’s just the way it goes.

“But in every off-season, there are a lot of people going to different race shops. Maybe they can’t go up the ladder within their own shop, so they have to go elsewhere else. Chad (Knaus) started at Hendrick, went to a few other teams, ended up at DEI, then came back. That is pretty common among guys trying to cut their teeth in the sport.”  

Johnson agreed with Keselowsk that’s sharing information has risks.

“He raised a valid point as far as… sharing information,” he said. “We are friendly with Childress, but it’s not like we open up our database and show them all we have. So, I get that and understand that, for sure. I’m sure both sides are protecting something.”

UPDATE: Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick reacted angrily to Keselowski’s comments today, saying in a written statement, “Brad misrepresents the facts and spends a lot of time making insinuations and accusations about other teams when he should be focused on his own program and competing at a high level.

“I hope he figures that out and begins representing himself and the sport with more class.”