Penske Racing still has crew chief decisions to make on Cup, Nationwide cars
Penske Racing's Kurt Busch is still waiting on a crew chief to be named for his No. 2 Dodge for the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. // David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
TALLADEGA, Ala. – Penske Racing has talked to candidates but is not ready to name crew chiefs for two of its NASCAR Sprint Cup cars and one of its Nationwide Series cars for 2010.
Kurt Busch crew chief Pat Tryson is leaving for Michael Waltrip Racing, and rookie Brad Keselowski hasn’t been assigned a crew chief for both his Cup and Nationwide programs.
“We’re not in a big hurry to make that decision,” Penske team president Tim Cindric said at Talladega Superspeedway. “We haven’t made any decisions on that front yet, but it’s not that we’re not out talking to guys and figuring out who the best fits are because I think chemistry is going to have a lot to do with the success.”
Silly season for crew chiefs cranked up this week with Joe Gibbs Racing announcing that Steve Addington won’t remain with Kyle Busch and Hendrick Motorsports announcing that Lance McGrew will remain with Dale Earnhardt Jr.
“[Addington] is a good example of how this thing changes real quick,” Cindric said. “Some days, the longer you wait, the smarter you are.”
Busch doesn’t seem to be in too much of a hurry as well. He indicated last week that there are some internal candidates for the job. Busch is sixth in the standings, 240 points behind Hendrick Motorsports’ Jimmie Johnson with four races left in the season.
“I feel like what we’ve done internally at Penske Racing has been smart: We’ve been patient,” Busch said. “We still find ourselves with an outside shot at the championship and that’s what we’re going to base our decision off of when we do make a change or move somebody in.
“A guy like Steve Addington, to hear the news, you have to talk to a guy like [JGR President] J.D. Gibbs before you move on and find out what the story is and if he’s available. Those are the types of guys we’d love to talk to and see if we can match up.”
Cindric said the organization will look at people with both Cup crew chief experience and engineers who haven’t been Cup crew chiefs.
“We’ll certainly look at both,” Cindric said. “We’re always an organization that tries to promote from within but not if there’s something else that is better out there. If it’s a flip of a coin, we’re going to promote from within.”
As far as on track, Cindric smiled when asked about Keselowski’s victory at Memphis Motorsports Park. Driving for JR Motorsports, Keselowski was involved in a few incidents on his way to the win.
“It was Memphis,” Cindric said. “We talked about it. Brad is one of those guys that if there is an opportunity there, he’s going to take advantage of it. I think with Brad, the good thing is he’s got give and take. And when it’s out there to take, he’s going to do everything he can to take it, but he’s going to continue to do it in a fair way.”
