A familiar face will return to the top of a Sprint Cup Series pit box in 2015, as Roush Fenway Racing named Bob Osborne crew chief of Trevor Bayne’s No. 6 team Tuesday.
Roush Fenway Racing sets 2015 driver, crew chief lineup
The most notable change will see the pairing of Trevor Bayne with veteran crew chief Bob Osborne.
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From 2004-12, Osborne won 18 races as crew chief for Carl Edwards and twice guided Edwards to a championship runner-up finish, before stepping down midway through the 2012 season due to undisclosed health issues. With Edwards moving to Joe Gibbs Racing, Osborne instead will work with his replacement, Bayne, who is preparing for his first full Cup season.
In other personnel news, Roush appointed Nick Sandler crew chief for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and the No. 17 team. Sandler, the former head engineer on Edwards’ team, takes over for Mike Kelley and becomes Stenhouse’s third different crew chief in as many seasons.
After a promising 2013 rookie season where he finished 19th in points, Stenhouse fell eight positions in the standings and failed to qualify for the October race at Talladega Superspeedway. Kelley, who led Stenhouse to Xfinity Series championships in 2011-12, will remain with the No. 17 team in the position of car chief.
Veteran Greg Biffle and crew chief Matt Puccia will remain partnered for a third consecutive season. Jimmy Fennig, who replaced Osborne as Edwards’ crew chief, has taken a role in Roush Fenway’s research and development department.
“We are excited about our 2015 crew chief lineup,” team co-owner Jack Roush said in a statement. “Much like our driver lineup, our crew chief assembly features a quality mix of veteran leadership and youthful insight. We feel this lineup, combined with the addition of Kevin Kidd to oversee our Sprint Cup efforts, is a big step forward in the direction of placing our teams up front and contending week-in and week-out.”
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