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Change Will Be Good For Joe Gibbs Racing

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JGR Kyle Busch 1

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Joe Gibbs Racing will expand to four drivers this year with the addition of Carl Edwards, and three of them will begin 2015 with new crew chiefs. Even after placing three drivers into NASCAR‘s Chase for the Sprint Cup last year, changes needed to be made after the organization combined for just two wins with Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch each winning once.

Bringing in Edwards, a driver who came within a single point of a Sprint Cup Championship in 2011, adds another team to gather research and ultimately results that should pay dividends next year. But don’t underestimate the positive effect a change in crew chiefs can have — we’ve seen this before.

Two of Gibbs’ moves will come in the form of drivers switching crew chiefs as Darian Grubb will move from Hamlin’s team to Edwards’ and Dave Rogers will switch from Busch to Hamlin. Adam Stevens, who won 34 races in four years with the No. 54 car in the Nationwide Series, is getting promoted to work with Busch in the Sprint Cup Series. Matt Kenseth, meanwhile, will continue with Jason Ratcliff atop the box.

Hendrick Motorsports made a very similar move at the end of 2010 when it rotated crew chiefs between Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin while leaving Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus together. That move teamed up Gordon with his current crew chief Alan Gustafson and Earnhardt with Steve LeTarte, who retired at the end of the 2014 season.

Both Gordon and Earnhardt had struggled, but in their third year with each respective crew chief they came alive in 2014 by winning four races apiece and making the Chase grid. It is this kind of resurgence Gibbs is hoping to see out of his drivers this year, and by adding a new driver, circulating crew chiefs and potentially finding more speed in the Toyotas, the organization is taking plenty of steps toward achieving just that.

Ryan Pritt is a NASCAR writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter @RPritt, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.

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