Former JR Motorsports crew chief Chad Walter rejuvenated for Penske job
Chad Walter, a NASCAR Nationwide Series crew chief for the last few years at Hendrick Motorsports and JR Motorsports, will be atop the pit box this year in the series again – this time with Penske Racing.
Walter, who left JR Motorsports last July, will be the crew chief for Justin Allgaier. He started at Penske in October as an engineer on the Cup side.
A full season for Allgaier was just solidified in the last month when it was decided that Verizon, which bought out Cup sponsor Alltel and was not allowed to change the logos on the Cup car, will be on the hood of the Nationwide car.
“Out of the clear blue they asked me if I would be interested in working with Justin on a full-time deal,” Walter said last week during the Sprint Media Tour. “Personally, I feel very fortunate in this day and age to have moved into this position at this organization.
“It’s a quality organization from top to bottom and one of the few places you want to work.”
Walter, who also has worked at Dale Earnhardt Inc., said he needed a break when he left JR Motorsports.
“It was time for me to make a change, and we did and it was very amicable,” Walter said. “I took a summer off, which is something I haven’t done in 17 years and realized there were actually leaves on trees in the summertime.
“I took a breath and I needed that. Every experience and every opportunity that Hendrick Motorsports gave me paid off with me moving forward with Penske in the same role.”
Having been off the box for about six months, Walter said he is ready to go this season 2009. He also could find himself working on the Nationwide Series car of tomorrow if NASCAR opts to implement it in 2010.
“We haven’t heard a whole lot on that front,” Walter said. “The economy is letting that one float for a little while. With [Chip] Ganassi [Racing] shutting down their Nationwide program – they were the lead developer on the Dodge side for that Nationwide COT – and we’re going to inherit that project.
“But to be honest with you, I haven’t spent a whole lot of time on it. We haven’t had a whole lot of time. We kind of got the 11th hour on the sponsorship, so we’ve been really working hard on this year.”
