Published: Saturday, November 7, 2009
NASCAR notes: Kyle Busch's new crew chief ready for 1st tirade
FORT WORTH, Texas — Kyle Busch's new crew chief knows what's coming.
Dave Rogers also knows it won't do any good to worry about being on the receiving end of the demanding driver's first tirade.
"I'm probably going to take some beatings from him," Rogers said. "We all know that he can be verbal, and I'm probably going to have a give a few back. It's going to be a good working relationship."
Busch and Rogers make their debut in Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Texas. Joe Gibbs Racing announced last week that Steve Addington would be replaced as Busch's crew chief after last weekend's event at Talladega.
Addington and Busch, known for berating his crew when he doesn't like his car or the pit efforts, won 12 times in 68 races since the start of 2008. That included four wins this year, but the duo narrowly missed the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship in part because of 12 finishes outside the top 20.
"I'm disappointed for Steve. I'm humbled," Rogers said. "I'm slightly surprised but not really. Everything changes so fast around here."
Rogers has been with the Gibbs team for years, serving on Tony Stewart's Sprint Cup series-winning team in 2002. He was in charge of Gibbs' No. 20 car in the Nationwide Series, winning nine times with four different drivers last year.
It's the second Sprint Cup spin for Rogers. The first wasn't good. He was replaced in his first season with Jason Leffler in 2005 when the team went the first half of the year without a top-10.
"I failed at the No. 11 car. There's no doubt about it," Rogers said. "Certainly I learned a lot through that experience. I would not change it for the world, and I think it will make me a better crew chief for the No. 18 car."
The change from Addington to Rogers came after consecutive top-10s from the 24-year-old driver. Still, Busch seemed to understand the change. Now he's gearing up for it.
"It's going to take time to really work into a great relationship," Busch said. "Him learning the cars, me learning him and getting the communication going. When you have good race cars, you have a guy that you've talked to, you seem to be able to get a lot accomplished."
TOYOTA TALK: Toyota's withdrawal from the Formula One circuit will not affect the manufacturer's commitment to NASCAR, a company executive said Saturday.
Lee White, president and general manager of Toyota Racing Development, said the operations are separate financially.
"It should have no effect whatsoever on our NASCAR program and our NASCAR plan and our NASCAR future," White said.
Toyota said Wednesday it was withdrawing from F1 to cut costs and focus on its core business. The complete withdrawal makes it unlikely Toyota will return if the economy improves.
White said the money saved by withdrawing from F1 will not result in an expansion of the NASCAR program.
"We are not pursuing other teams," White said.
GO, KURT, GO: An Oklahoma man has a vested interest in Kurt Busch winning Sunday's Sprint Cup race.
Michael McGee of Broken Bow, Okla., was named the Dickies American Worker of the Year last month in Las Vegas. He won $50,000 and will take home $1 million if Kurt Busch wins.
The 25-year-old McGee ended up with Kurt Busch by picking him in a random drawing of the 12 Chase for the Sprint Cup championship drivers.
McGee teaches agriculture and owns a 41-acre horse training farm.
DON'T COUNT THE CHICKENS: Jimmie Johnson's commanding Sprint Cup series lead makes it possible for him to become the first driver in the Chase era to clinch the title before the finale.
Johnson can wrap it up next week in Phoenix, but that's not the way he's thinking.
"I feel like if we start focusing on average position where we need to finish, do some things that are different than what the 48 car does, we will set ourselves up for a problem," Johnson said. "I'm certainly not going to do stupid things on the track, take a lot of unneeded risk. But I've always been a believer of playing offense."
Johnson enters the Texas race with a 184-point lead over Mark Martin and 192 ahead of Jeff Gordon, the April winner here.
"If we got out and outrun the 24 and the 5 the next two weeks, we'll let that enter into our minds then," Johnson said.
SPARK PLUGS: Two-time Texas winner Jeff Burton skipped Saturday's Nationwide Series race after a hard crash during Sprint Cup practice Friday. He said team owner Richard Childress made the decision for precautionary reasons. ... Texas native Bobby Labonte (Corpus Christi) will go for his 200th top-10 Sunday. He would be the 26th driver to reach that mark. ... The antacid TUMS has joined Michael Waltrip Racing as a sponsor of David Reutimann's No. 00 car. TUMS will be the primary sponsor for five races during the 2010 and 2011 seasons. ... Little Debbie will continue as a Marcos Ambrose sponsor in 2010.
Dave Rogers also knows it won't do any good to worry about being on the receiving end of the demanding driver's first tirade.
"I'm probably going to take some beatings from him," Rogers said. "We all know that he can be verbal, and I'm probably going to have a give a few back. It's going to be a good working relationship."
Busch and Rogers make their debut in Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Texas. Joe Gibbs Racing announced last week that Steve Addington would be replaced as Busch's crew chief after last weekend's event at Talladega.
Addington and Busch, known for berating his crew when he doesn't like his car or the pit efforts, won 12 times in 68 races since the start of 2008. That included four wins this year, but the duo narrowly missed the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship in part because of 12 finishes outside the top 20.
"I'm disappointed for Steve. I'm humbled," Rogers said. "I'm slightly surprised but not really. Everything changes so fast around here."
Rogers has been with the Gibbs team for years, serving on Tony Stewart's Sprint Cup series-winning team in 2002. He was in charge of Gibbs' No. 20 car in the Nationwide Series, winning nine times with four different drivers last year.
It's the second Sprint Cup spin for Rogers. The first wasn't good. He was replaced in his first season with Jason Leffler in 2005 when the team went the first half of the year without a top-10.
"I failed at the No. 11 car. There's no doubt about it," Rogers said. "Certainly I learned a lot through that experience. I would not change it for the world, and I think it will make me a better crew chief for the No. 18 car."
The change from Addington to Rogers came after consecutive top-10s from the 24-year-old driver. Still, Busch seemed to understand the change. Now he's gearing up for it.
"It's going to take time to really work into a great relationship," Busch said. "Him learning the cars, me learning him and getting the communication going. When you have good race cars, you have a guy that you've talked to, you seem to be able to get a lot accomplished."
TOYOTA TALK: Toyota's withdrawal from the Formula One circuit will not affect the manufacturer's commitment to NASCAR, a company executive said Saturday.
Lee White, president and general manager of Toyota Racing Development, said the operations are separate financially.
"It should have no effect whatsoever on our NASCAR program and our NASCAR plan and our NASCAR future," White said.
Toyota said Wednesday it was withdrawing from F1 to cut costs and focus on its core business. The complete withdrawal makes it unlikely Toyota will return if the economy improves.
White said the money saved by withdrawing from F1 will not result in an expansion of the NASCAR program.
"We are not pursuing other teams," White said.
GO, KURT, GO: An Oklahoma man has a vested interest in Kurt Busch winning Sunday's Sprint Cup race.
Michael McGee of Broken Bow, Okla., was named the Dickies American Worker of the Year last month in Las Vegas. He won $50,000 and will take home $1 million if Kurt Busch wins.
The 25-year-old McGee ended up with Kurt Busch by picking him in a random drawing of the 12 Chase for the Sprint Cup championship drivers.
McGee teaches agriculture and owns a 41-acre horse training farm.
DON'T COUNT THE CHICKENS: Jimmie Johnson's commanding Sprint Cup series lead makes it possible for him to become the first driver in the Chase era to clinch the title before the finale.
Johnson can wrap it up next week in Phoenix, but that's not the way he's thinking.
"I feel like if we start focusing on average position where we need to finish, do some things that are different than what the 48 car does, we will set ourselves up for a problem," Johnson said. "I'm certainly not going to do stupid things on the track, take a lot of unneeded risk. But I've always been a believer of playing offense."
Johnson enters the Texas race with a 184-point lead over Mark Martin and 192 ahead of Jeff Gordon, the April winner here.
"If we got out and outrun the 24 and the 5 the next two weeks, we'll let that enter into our minds then," Johnson said.
SPARK PLUGS: Two-time Texas winner Jeff Burton skipped Saturday's Nationwide Series race after a hard crash during Sprint Cup practice Friday. He said team owner Richard Childress made the decision for precautionary reasons. ... Texas native Bobby Labonte (Corpus Christi) will go for his 200th top-10 Sunday. He would be the 26th driver to reach that mark. ... The antacid TUMS has joined Michael Waltrip Racing as a sponsor of David Reutimann's No. 00 car. TUMS will be the primary sponsor for five races during the 2010 and 2011 seasons. ... Little Debbie will continue as a Marcos Ambrose sponsor in 2010.
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