Mike Ford Hired To Crew Chief For Aric Almirola

In a bit of unusual timing, Richard Petty Motorsports hired former Denny Hamlin crew chief Mike Ford on Monday to head its No. 43 team, nine races after the season already began.

The timing is odd because though driver Aric Almirola is 23rd in points and has just one top-10 finish, the expectations for the young driver couldn’t have realistically been much better than that. So it’s surprising to see crew chief Greg Erwin – who formerly guided Greg Biffle – get the boot so quickly.

In some ways, Greg Zipadelli and Joe Gibbs Racing grew up in NASCAR together. Drivers and other personnel came and went, but Zipadelli was a constant in the role of No. 20 team crew chief.

The man they call “Zippy” knew he would have had a job for life at JGR if he wanted it.

When Greg Zipadelli decided to join Tony Stewart and Stewart-Haas Racing as the team’s competition director, he figured his career as a crew chief was likely over.

But in the last two days, as the announcement about joining Stewart-Haas neared, Zipadelli and Stewart added another duty to the new job: Interim crew chief for Danica Patrick’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series efforts in 2012.

In a pair of coordinated announcements on Friday morning, Joe Gibbs Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing announced Greg Zipadelli will leave JGR reunite with Tony Stewart at SHR as the team’s new competition director.

JGR said Jason Ratcliff will move up from its Nationwide Series team to become Joey Logano’s crew chief on the No. 20 Sprint Cup Series team.

To find Steve Addington’s replacement, Penske Racing has hired from within.

↵Penske announced Wednesday it has promoted Todd Gordon to crew chief of the No. 22 car. The team, which currently has no driver after Kurt Busch “mutually agreed” to leave Penske, is still evaluating its prospects to fill the seat.

Darian Grubb had plenty of options when he began searching for a new job following his firing from Stewart-Haas Racing.

But first, he had to decide whether to be a crew chief or take a management role overseeing engineering with some team (like the one he was offered at Hendrick Motorsports). Grubb ultimately chose to remain a crew chief for family reasons – the 36-year-old figured he would stay atop the pit box for about four more years, until his son began to play T-Ball and soccer.

Darian Grubb, the championship crew chief for Stewart-Haas Racing who was fired after the season, has landed on his feet.

Grubb was announced as the new crew chief for Denny Hamlin’s team at Joe Gibbs Racing on Friday morning, replacing the fired Mike Ford.

Mike Ford has been removed as Denny Hamlin’s crew chief at Joe Gibbs Racing, the team confirmed Tuesday night.

Ford’s departure comes after a disappointing season in which Hamlin went from 2010 championship contender to Chase also-ran and cited communication issues between the two throughout the season.

The move clears the way for a possible hiring of Darian Grubb, Tony Stewart’s champion crew chief who was let go after the season.

Darian Grubb got choked up several times during his acceptance speech of the NASCAR Champion Crew Chief Award on Thursday in Las Vegas, nearly breaking down at one point.

The crowd at the annual NASCAR NMPA Myers Brothers Luncheon gave Grubb a standing ovation for his eloquent remarks, which included a thank-you to former driver/boss Tony Stewart. The pairing won the championship, but Grubb was told halfway through the Chase he would be fired at the end of the season.

Just eight days after one of the greatest NASCAR races ever comes one of the all-time NASCAR head-scratchers: Tony Stewart has hired Steve Addington as crew chief despite winning the Sprint Cup Series championship (and three of the final four races) with Darian Grubb.

From the outside looking in, this move seems to go directly against the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” adage. But when Stewart made the decision and informed Grubb he was gone, it was prior to the Charlotte race in mid-October – well before the Stewart/Grubb tandem went on their championship tear.

Tony Stewart’s championship-winning crew chief, Darian Grubb, says he’s been fired.

Grubb, speaking after he and Stewart won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title on Sunday night, said he was told prior to the Charlotte Chase race that he would not be welcomed back by Stewart-Haas Racing next season.