Former Fitz Motorsports crew chief Wolfe joins Leffler's Braun team

By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor

Thursday, April 03, 2008

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FORT WORTH, Texas – Paul Wolfe has left Fitz Motorsports to replace Stewart Cooper as crew chief of the No. 38 Braun Racing entry and driver Jason Leffler in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Eddie Buffington is replacing Wolfe as crew chief of the No. 22 Fitz Motorsports car, which will be driven by Robby Gordon this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway after Mike Bliss left the team last week for the No. 1 Phoenix Racing ride.

Cooper has now joined Petty Enterprises as an engineer.

The crew chief musical chairs played out in the Nationwide Series off weekend, with Wolfe the highest profile crew chief to move. His team was eighth in owner points and he now joins Leffler, who is 10th in the driver standings while the team is 14th in the owner standings.

“I don’t really get into all the details and I don’t want to make this a big deal,” Wolfe said Thursday prior to Nationwide Series practice. “… we were running good. There was other stuff. I just want to move on.

“I feel like I can help out this program with Jason. He can win races and they’ve got the tools over here to do it.”

Wolfe, a former development driver for Evernham Motorsports, had been with Fitz Motorsports the last couple of years.

“I don’t want to come in there and try to turn things upside down from what they were doing,” Wolfe said. “It’s not far off from what I
was doing. Everybody has a little different way of going about things.

“I’ll work with what they’ve got and fine-tune a little bit.”

Replacing Wolfe at Fitz Motorsports for the Texas race is Eddie Buffington, who has served in several capacities for the team, including most recently as car chief for the No. 36 car that had started the season.

There is a possibility that Newt Moore, formerly of Brewco Motorsports and Phoenix Racing, will call the race Saturday. He is currently
working for Robby Gordon Motorsports.

The car Gordon is driving is the same car he drove at California for the team last year.

“We should perform well, that’s what I expect,” Buffington said Thursday. “These guys are a good bunch of guys. They’re very smart. Paul trained them very well.”

As far as Cooper, he said things were not working well with he and Leffler and the Petty Enterprises opportunity came along. Cooper said he was offered the chance to crew chief another car at Braun but opted to make the move.

“Jason is a great driver and a great guy,” Cooper said Wednesday. “Sometimes the chemistry doesn’t work even though you’re running good. It doesn’t fit. Todd Braun is a fantastic car owner and [competition director] Todd Lohse is a great guy. They are the reason I moved to Charlotte was to work with those guys.

“It’s unfortunate that it didn’t work out. … I’ve known [Petty Executive Vice President] Robbie Loomis for a long time, I know what he’s trying to build at Petty Enterprises. Cup racing is ultimately where I want to be long-term. It fits perfect for me.”