Crew chief Dave Rogers ready to become pit boss for Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch

By SceneDaily Staff

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Joe Gibbs Racing's Dave Rogers will work his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race as Kyle Busch's crew chief in Sunday's race at Texas Motor Speedway.

David Griffin
NASCAR Scene

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Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch and crew chief Dave Rogers will work their first NASCAR Sprint Cup race together this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, but they do have a successful, albeit brief, history.

In three races in JGR’s No. 20 Nationwide Series Toyota in 2008, Busch won once, collected one pole and led 300 laps with Rogers as his crew chief.

Now, Rogers returns to the pit box of Busch’s team, only this time it’s in the Cup series. Rogers replaces Steve Addington, who served his last race as Busch’s Cup crew chief last weekend at Talladega.

“I love Steve,” Busch said. “He has been a great guy and a great leader with this team the last couple of years. He brought a lot to the table last year with the car coming in for his first full season of competition. This year, it just seems in the beginning of the year we were good again, but we sort of fell off a little bit and couldn’t keep up with the rest of the competition.”

Busch won 12 Cup races with Addington as his crew chief, but the No. 18 team failed to make the Chase For The Sprint Cup this year. Busch said the team is now “looking for some new, fresh ideas.”

“They feel like Dave Rogers can bring those in and get us going,” Busch said. “[Owner] Joe and [team President] J.D. [Gibbs] are always looking for opportunities to make their organization better. They felt like this was a necessary change to make in order to get ready for 2010 so the 18 car can be capable of competing for the Chase and, of course, competing for the championship at the end of the year.”

Busch said the team will use the final three races of the season to prepare for 2010.

“That’s what our plan is for the last three races of ’09 – just getting ready for 2010, not to say we wouldn’t love to win one of the remaining races,” Busch said. “Dave and I have worked together on the Nationwide side before, so we have a sense of what we need from each other and what we need to talk about.

“It might be a bit of a learning curve for Dave, so that’s going to be the biggest thing, probably Dave getting ready and getting everything and all his paperwork in order for this new car. For me, it will be just talking with Dave, spending some more time with him, trying to get everything going. That’s going to be the biggest thing in these final races, just trying to prepare ourselves and trying to get ready for 2010.”

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Comments

14 responses to "Crew chief Dave Rogers ready to become pit boss for Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch". Post a Comment.

1

4-DA-88 said:
Nov 4, 2009 at 3:42 PM
Learning curve? Has this guy ever worked with a cup car before now? I know he is coming from the NW series. Is love enough? Kyle?
2

lfowler said:
Nov 4, 2009 at 4:11 PM
This is the first thing that Joe Gibbs and JGR have ever done that I totally disagree with. I hope Steve Addington is hired by another team that will respect him. I'm sure he will not miss the crap he had to put up with from Kyle but I hate to see him treated this way. Should have changed drivers and kept the crew chief
3

Short-Track said:
Nov 4, 2009 at 4:27 PM
"It's never Junior; it's always the crew chief," said Busch!Well let's see what you and Dave Who are going to do!You two do make a great couple..I mean a good pair.You guys' relationship(racing relationship of course)should be "MAGNET"-ic!!!Will you two become like Jimmie and Chad which is SIMPLY FABULOUS?Time will tell.
4

SS396Chevelle said:
Nov 4, 2009 at 5:35 PM
Take two Advil after each pit stop and see Dr the morning after a race.
5

Mtclimber said:
Nov 4, 2009 at 8:04 PM
Could be alot of things going on behind closed doors at JGR that none of us have any idea about. Face it, in pro sports the athlete that is the star, the face of the team; the person the fans pay to see, will usually stay like it or not. You pay to see drivers "Drive", not crew chiefs..."Chief". Who would go first, A-Rod or the coach? Sidney Crosby or the coach, Kobe or Phil? Tiger or the caddie? Adrian Peterson or the coach. Kyle stays, Steve moves on that's life fair or not. Bet he ends up smelling like a rose some how in this whole thing. I too wish him all the luck.
6

buckshot88 said:
Nov 4, 2009 at 9:32 PM
12 wins with addington and you kick him out the door? all the crew chiefs fault? guess we shall find out,a real roll of the dice, better hope it does'nt come up snake eyes!
7

stone069 said:
Nov 5, 2009 at 12:21 AM
I can't believe they did this. I am not a Busch fan but I have never argued his talent. I hope he hits a slump and has to eat his words of the last two years. ESPECIALLY if it was his complaining that got Addington ousted. Kyle has had a good run the last two years and Eating some humble pie will be good for his maturity. I hope that Addington goes to a high profile team and spanks the hell outta the 18 team next year.
8

stone069 said:
Nov 5, 2009 at 12:34 AM
Oh S..., I am sorry Dave Rogers, I did not mean any offense. I have watched you do an awesome job in Nationwide and I think you will do a fine job. Gibbs has a way of getting really good people. I do think it will be a transition year and once you get the hang of it, will be an awesome Crew chief in Cup. I just think it is such a huge difference from the "old style" car, to the "COT" style car. Splitters, wings, shock packers, more horsepower, are all new to you, will be too much to get a grip on in such a short time.
9

wdstump said:
Nov 5, 2009 at 4:46 AM
Having listened, either at the track, or on Trackpass for every race over the last 2 years, I understand the change, but don't like it. The communication that was there with Steve has been a little less productive in the changes they make. I hear him and Dave at the NW races I attend and it is as good as ever. Kyle and Steve were as good as it gets but seemed to lack the chemistry this year as it has in the past. Hope Steve lands a great job. MWR would do well to look at hiring him for Truex if they could swing it.
10

Short-Track said:
Nov 5, 2009 at 3:49 PM
What are Kyle and Dave Who talking about in the NW series WDSTUMP?The last time I checked Kyle's C.C. in the minor leagues was Jason Ratface I mean Ratcliffe and by the way Truex is getting Pat Tryson so try again at making a valid point!Steve was probably tired of hearing how bad the cars were or how they were getting beat in the pits or just how bad they sucked from the pink M&M driving his cars!
11

lten11 said:
Nov 5, 2009 at 4:55 PM
Was Addington fired or just reassigned in the company, also who is crew chief for the 02 car ???.
12

CARLSBUD said:
Nov 6, 2009 at 7:52 AM
GOOD LUCK STEVE. LIFE IS PROBABLY BETTER ALREADY.
13

JGR_P1 said:
Nov 6, 2009 at 12:41 PM
First Steve was not released he was just reassigned Just like Eury Jr. I doubt he leaves but even if he wants to leave he would be stupid to leave before Zippy decides to stay or not. Last year he could not leave to join Tony stewart by aggreement but this year the aggreement is over so if he wants to he can. I have not heard anything to suggest Zippy would leave but if so I am sure Steve would be the one to replace him if he did.
I think Mike Sibley is the crew chief of the 02 car he is on the JGR website as the crew chief of the East series ride. since Ratcliffe and Rogers have Nationwide cars to handle It would make the most sense to use Sibley since David is running expermental stuff anyways.
The funny thing everyone assumes something terrible happened but people switch crew chiefs around all the time. RCR switched them all up earlier this year and I think Mears or Burton just got a new one a week or two ago. RPM switched all their crew chiefs around about 3 weeks ago and Even Jeff Gordon has just been working with Steve Letart 1 season before this. I would guess every 3 years there is an 50-80% changeover in driver crew chief combos.
14

bonjg24 said:
Nov 11, 2009 at 5:14 PM
JGR_P1 I agree with everything you said. Wish
the Kyle haters would stop trying to make
something out of nothing.