Penske Racing likes crew chief, driver lineup
By Bob Pockrass
Saturday, January 05, 2008
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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Chris Carrier had done a solid job as a crew chief at Morgan-McClure Motorsports the past few years, and there is a reason Penske Racing thought he would be a good fit for rookie Sam Hornish Jr. in 2008.
While conventional wisdom might have been to put Roy McCauley, a seasoned Penske crew chief who knows more of how the team works, with Hornish, pairing McCauley with Ryan Newman gives that team its best chance for success, team president Tim Cindric said.
The pairing of McCauley and Newman was brought about after Newman's crew chief Mike Nelson was promoted to vice president of operations. Pat Tryson remains paired with Kurt Busch and Carrier started this week as the crew chief for Hornish.
"Roy would have been a great fit [with Hornish], but our best opportunities to win the championship [are what] we had to look at first," Cindric said Saturday at Daytona International Speedway during a break in testing for the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
"We sat down with Newman. ... He said, 'There's nobody else I'd want [than McCauley].' We felt like that was our best opportunity to win a championship with Ryan and Kurt, so we needed to make sure we put our best foot forward in that situation. Then once that was sorted, we said, 'OK, what do we do with Sam?' "
That led to the hiring of Carrier, who has worked at Andy Petree Racing and Morgan-McClure Motorsports over the last five years.
"We felt like having somebody with Sam who has had a lot of experience - we saw it work with Tryson in a different way, where Pat was used to running at the front all the time, Chris has a lot of experience with the guys coming up," Cindric said.
"He's got a lot of experience with guys that are running the 30th-40th situation. Not that we plan to be there, but we needed a leader that wasn't going to push the panic button. Sam needs a personality that is steady. It's chemistry."
Nelson spent only one season as crew chief before being promoted into his current role.
"That was something that Michael mentioned as a goal in his career," Cindric said. "It was probably sooner than Michael wanted. Michael wanted to spend a few years and to make sure he had the credentials as a successful crew chief.
"He's been through a lot of success as a race engineer. He had a good year."
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Kurt Busch
Comments
1 response to "Penske Racing likes crew chief, driver lineup"
Jean Smart said:
Jun 18, 2008 at 12:09 PMI think it is a good lineup. Ryan&Kurt are great drivers.Sam is doing real good for a rookie.Ryan&Kurt are going to be in the chase.
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