Joe
Gibbs Racing made it official today, announcing the crew chief assignments for
each of its 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup and NASCAR XFINITY Series teams.
JGR’s
new NASCAR Sprint Cup Series lineup will see Jason Ratcliff crew the No 20
Toyota driven by Matt Kenseth, with Dave Rogers moving to the No. 11 Toyota
driven by Denny Hamlin. Darian Grubb will oversee the new, No. 19 Toyota driven
by Carl Edwards, while longtime XFINITY Series Adam Stevens will move up to
head the No. 18 Sprint Cup Toyota driven by Kyle Busch.
The
team’s 2015 NASCAR XFINITY Series lineup includes Eric Phillips at the helm of
the No. 18 Toyota driven by Daniel Suarez, Chris Gayle serving as crew chief
for the No. 54 Toyota driven by multiple drivers and Mike Wheeler overseeing
the No. 20 Toyota, also slated to utilize a number of drivers.
“With
the expansion of our NASCAR Sprint Cup Series operations to four teams next
year with the addition of Carl Edwards, we have been able to take a step back
and evaluate each of our teams and make decisions that we feel are best for our
organization long term,” said J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing.
“Like
Jason and Dave previously, Adam has clearly proven that he is ready to move
into the Cup Series and we feel that his familiarity with Kyle provides the
opportunity for us to make that move now. We think pairing Dave with Denny and
Darian with Carl will also make each team stronger heading into next season. Jason
and Matt came together quickly and we felt it was in the best interest of the
20 team to keep it as is.
Stevens
joins the Sprint Cup Series after spending the previous four seasons as a crew
chief in JGR’s NASCAR Nationwide Series. Over that time, Stevens has been a
part of 31 wins, 73 top-five and 95 top-ten finishes in 124 starts
“The
XFINITY Series has been very important to us at Joe Gibbs Racing. Not only from
a driver development standpoint, but also in the development of crew chiefs and
other team members that eventually make their way into our Cup programs. Mike
Wheeler has been a vital part of our success with Denny on the Cup side and
we’re excited that he will have a chance to be a crew chief. It is a similar
transition to the one we made with Chris Gayle a couple of years ago, and Chris
will remain with us, but move over to the 54 Toyota with Kyle.
We’re also
excited to have Eric Phillips join our operations from KBM to work with Daniel
Suarez next season.”
Mike
Wheeler has been with JGR since December 2002 and served as the race engineer
on the No. 11 Cup team since that team’s formation in 2005. He will now serve
as crew chief on the No. 20 XFINITY team which will run a full season with
multiple drivers.
Gayle,
who has served as the crew chief on JGR’s No. 11 Nationwide Series team the
previous two seasons and was an engineer on JGR’s No. 18 Sprint Cup Series team
prior to that, will now lead the organization’s No. 54 XFINITY Series team.
Eric
Phillips joins JGR from Kyle Busch Motorsports where he served as crew chief
for the NASCAR Camping World Series Owner’s Championship No. 51 Tundra team.
Phillips, who joined KBM in 2010, will work with Daniel Suarez on the No. 18
XFINITY Series team in 2015.
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