Despite a widely successful season that saw each of its four drivers produce multiple victories and combine for a series-best 14 wins, with Kyle Busch capturing the Sprint Cup championship, Joe Gibbs Racing is re-configuring its crew chief roster for the 2016 season.
Joe Gibbs Racing appoints new crew chiefs for Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards
The team is reshuffling its driver-crew chief pairings for the second consecutive season.
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The changes announced Monday will see new crew chiefs for Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin, with Dave Rogers moving from Hamlin’s team to Edwards’ and Mike Wheeler taking over Hamlin’s team. Adam Stevens will remain Busch’s crew chief, as will Jason Ratcliff for Matt Kenseth.
“2015 was probably the strongest season we have ever had at Joe Gibbs Racing,” team owner Joe Gibbs said. “I think every year you evaluate each of your teams however and sometimes during that process you find that a change might be in the best interest for all involved.”
The shakeup leaves Darian Grubb, Edwards’ former crew chief, without a role and he is exploring “several opportunities,” JGR said in a statement. After guiding Tony Stewart to the 2011 championship, Grubb joined JGR the next season to work with Hamlin and then shifted to Edwards when the organization added a fourth car last year.
This marks the second consecutive offseason JGR shuffled its driver-crew chief pairings. The latest maneuvering was prompted in part to ensure Wheeler, a longtime Hamlin engineer, stayed with the team. Hamlin lobbied JGR to appoint Wheeler his crew chief last season, but officials instead named Rogers, who won 13 races with Busch from 2009-14. Wheeler was moved to the Xfinity Series in 2015 to gain experience as a crew chief.
Wheeler’s promotion follows a blueprint JGR has used previously, as Rogers and Stevens also jumped from Xfinity to Cup and achieved instant success.
“Mike Wheeler is obviously someone that has a long history with Denny and that No. 11 team,” Gibbs said. “After seeing what he accomplished as a crew chief in our Xfinity Series program last year we felt the timing was right to move him back into our Cup program. Dave Rogers has also been successful in every role he has had with us and we think he will work well with Carl going into 2016.”
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