J.D. Gibbs says time was right for change in Kyle Busch crew chief
Steve Addington will work as Kyle Busch's crew chief for the final time in Sunday's Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
// David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
TALLADEGA, Ala. – In trying to explain the removal of Steve Addington as the crew chief for Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing President J.D. Gibbs said it was just time to shake things up.
“It was probably just time to make a change,” Gibbs said Sunday prior to the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. “It was hard and difficult because Steve’s been there forever, for a long time. We love Steve.”
In Busch’s first year at JGR, he won eight races and made the Chase For The Sprint Cup. This season, he has won four races but missed making the Chase by eight points.
Gibbs said the scenario wasn’t one where Busch forced out Addington.
“Kyle and Steve get along,” Gibbs said. “It wasn’t like Kyle was saying, ‘Do this or else.’ That’s not how we operate. We just felt like for the whole program, it was time to make a change.”
He also said it was difficult to say whether Addington would have stayed if the team made the Chase.
“I don’t know,” Gibbs said. “What ifs, and could haves, we could have probably changed a bunch of stuff. But we didn’t, and I think going forward, we just want to put the best product out there.”
Addington will be replaced by Nationwide Series crew chief Dave Rogers, who built the No. 11 team but didn’t last as the crew chief very long as Jason Leffler struggled. He ended up working for JGR in the Nationwide Series with a great deal of success.
“It’s a great story for Dave Rogers, who kind of built the 11 team and couldn’t really enjoy it,” Gibbs said. “Now we’re giving him a shot to come back.”
Replacing Rogers as the crew chief for the No. 20 Nationwide team likely will be Doug Hewitt, Gibbs said.
