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JGR names interim Nationwide Series crew chiefs

By SceneDaily Staff

Thursday, August 21, 2008

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Joe Gibbs Racing officials have announced the interim crew chiefs for its two NASCAR Nationwide Series teams while crew chiefs Dave Rogers and Jason Ratcliff serve their indefinite suspensions.
 
Wally Brown, who works on JGR’s Sprint Cup test team, will serve as crew chief for the No. 20 team and driver Joey Logano this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.
 
Doug Hewitt, a JGR veteran who has served as crew chief with the team in the past, takes over the No. 18 team, which has Kyle Busch driving this weekend.
 
“It’s been a while since I’ve been in the crew chief role, but I really look forward to working with Kyle Busch this weekend at Bristol,” Hewitt said. “Any crew chief would jump at the opportunity to work with a driver as talented as Kyle, and I’m no different. My goal is to work with everyone at JGR to continue our successful Nationwide Series season.”
 
JGR has won 14 Nationwide races this season, but Rogers and Ratcliff were suspended by NASCAR for infractions during postrace chassis dynomometer testing at Michigan last weekend. JGR President J.D. Gibbs said the two would be suspended at least until the end of the season.
 
“While the circumstances are far from ideal, I’m looking forward to Bristol and getting to work with Joey Logano in this weekend’s Nationwide Series race,” Brown said. “I’ve had the pleasure of working with Joey throughout the past couple of years on the JGR Sprint Cup test team, and I’ve obviously been impressed with his natural talent and ability to give excellent feedback on the handling of his race car. It’s a really unfortunate situation, but we are going to work hard in order to run up front and be in contention to win like this team has all year long.”
 

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4 responses to "JGR names interim Nationwide Series crew chiefs"
  1. 1
    Colleen Strickler said:
    Aug 21, 2008 at 6:21 AM

    I have a feeling that this is not the first time JGR crew chiefs applied some trickery to their racing cars. They have been caught once, how many times did they slip through. This is not something that "Happens just once" and does not effect the racing. They must think we are all guilable idots.

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  2. 2
    Robyn MacMillan said:
    Aug 21, 2008 at 7:16 AM

    The same could be said for Hendricks or Childress you know. Last year people were saying the same things about Hendricks because they had such a strong season. Now JGR is having a strong season and everyone automatically assumes they have been cheating all along. I don't think they have. I think they are cheating when it comes to the dyno tests, yes, but they said this was done AFTER the race. Those magnets were not in place DURING the race. Big difference in my book.

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  3. 3
    anonymous said:
    Aug 21, 2008 at 10:05 AM

    I feel sorry for Mr. Hewitt. A previous article says that Kyle wants his Cup crew chief Steve Addington to act as a consultant on the Nationwide car. Doesn't sound like he has much confidence in his new crew chief. Not a good way to build on a crew chief/driver relationship. Good luck Doug, you're gonna need it.

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  4. 4
    Gladys Bedwell said:
    Aug 21, 2008 at 9:55 PM

    I really don't think a person should assume just because a team was caught cheating once means they had been cheating all along. I believe they only did it because they were penalized for being more advanced then the other teams. To me it was wrong for NASCAR to take away what they found just to make the race more competitive. The other teams needed to work harder to find out what JGR found. Also, they didn't do what they did to win the race, they did it to get a different horsepower reading on the dyno. They were hoping for some sort of rule change. What they did was not right but I can kind of see why they did it. It is tough being penalized for figuring things out faster then the other teams and get it taken away. Oh well, they will overcome this and move on.

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