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Sprint Cup
CUP: Addington - Penske Move Is Right Decision
Steve Addington says he’s completely comfortable with his move to Penske Racing...
Steve Addington who had served as crew chief for Kyle Busch in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for the past two years, was named as crew chief for Kurt Busch at Penske Racing Monday. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Steve Addington says he’s completely comfortable with his move to Penske Racing to be the NASCAR Sprint Cup crew chief for Kurt Busch next season after working in the same role with Busch’s younger brother, Kyle, at Joe Gibbs Racing for most of the last two seasons.
Addington, who was named Monday as crew chief for Kurt Busch’s No. 2 team for 2010, was replaced as the pit boss on Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Toyota with three races left in the 2009 season after the two won 12 races together in just under two years.
The pair failed to make NASCAR’s 2009 Chase For The Sprint Cup, however, and became known for strong disagreements over the team radio.
The older Busch also gained a reputation for sometimes scolding his former crew chief, Pat Tryson, on the radio when his car wasn’t handling well, but Addington isn’t worried.
“It doesn’t bother me at all because I know those two guys can win races, and you unload every week knowing you have a shot to win if you give them what they need in the race car,” Addington said in a phone interview Tuesday with www.SceneDaily.com. “That stuff never bothered me. … I think that the media looks at it as it’s a bad relationship between driver and crew chief, but both guys are passionate about what they’re doing, and they just want to win. We [crew chiefs] have that same attitude and outlook on things, but we sit back and know the percentages of winning every week in this business are very slim.
“If you had the batting average of .280 in baseball, you’d get a $50 million contract, but in this business it doesn’t work that way. You lose more than you win in this business if you look at the races that you run.”
After Tryson announced in September that he was leaving at the end of the season to join incoming driver Martin Truex Jr. at Michael Waltrip Racing, Kurt Busch and Addington met on more than one occasion to discuss a possible future together.
Addington, who was reassigned from his crew chief position at JGR to a different role in the company in late October, says he had serious talks with at least three Cup teams and also spoke with three or four Nationwide teams about going to work for them.
He was the most impressed with Penske and the interest that Kurt Busch, the 2004 Cup champion, showed in him.
“A day and a half, two days after all the stuff went down of me leaving the [No.] 18 car, Kurt was the first person that called [JGR President] J.D. [Gibbs] and asked if he could have permission to talk to me about filling the position that they had at the 2 car,” Addington said, noting that his contract with Penske is a multiyear agreement. “And that made me feel good that here’s a guy that’s won a championship, and he wants me to come and talk to him. So I never was reluctant on that end of it.”
Addington says that Kurt Busch seemed to buy into his approach to the crew chief’s role.
“I said, ‘Hey, when we have our bad days, we’ve got to work together and be heading in the same direction,’ and he was really good with it, and he liked the outlook of that,” Addington said. “As far as the organization, [team owner] Roger Penske, that guy has been successful in everything that he has done, and I feel like he’s going to give all three [Penske] cars the resources to go out and win every week and give us what we need to go racing.”
As for JGR, the 45-year-old Addington says he harbors no resentment toward his former organization, where he first served as a crew chief in the Nationwide Series in 2005.
He recalls a recent 90-minute meeting with Gibbs in which the two men were able to catch up.
“We left there friends. We didn’t burn any bridges, and we’re still great friends,” Addington said.
Now, Addington hopes to remain at Penske for a long time.
“I’m not one to change jobs,” he said. “I didn’t want to leave Gibbs Racing, but I didn’t have an option there on the Cup side, and I feel like there’s unfinished business here, and I feel like I’ve picked a great driver and a great organization to make that happen.”
SceneDaily.com•Red Bull Racing's Brian Vickers sees plenty of progress behind successful 2009 Cup season
Addington, who was named Monday as crew chief for Kurt Busch’s No. 2 team for 2010, was replaced as the pit boss on Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Toyota with three races left in the 2009 season after the two won 12 races together in just under two years.
The pair failed to make NASCAR’s 2009 Chase For The Sprint Cup, however, and became known for strong disagreements over the team radio.
The older Busch also gained a reputation for sometimes scolding his former crew chief, Pat Tryson, on the radio when his car wasn’t handling well, but Addington isn’t worried.
“It doesn’t bother me at all because I know those two guys can win races, and you unload every week knowing you have a shot to win if you give them what they need in the race car,” Addington said in a phone interview Tuesday with www.SceneDaily.com. “That stuff never bothered me. … I think that the media looks at it as it’s a bad relationship between driver and crew chief, but both guys are passionate about what they’re doing, and they just want to win. We [crew chiefs] have that same attitude and outlook on things, but we sit back and know the percentages of winning every week in this business are very slim.
“If you had the batting average of .280 in baseball, you’d get a $50 million contract, but in this business it doesn’t work that way. You lose more than you win in this business if you look at the races that you run.”
After Tryson announced in September that he was leaving at the end of the season to join incoming driver Martin Truex Jr. at Michael Waltrip Racing, Kurt Busch and Addington met on more than one occasion to discuss a possible future together.
Addington, who was reassigned from his crew chief position at JGR to a different role in the company in late October, says he had serious talks with at least three Cup teams and also spoke with three or four Nationwide teams about going to work for them.
He was the most impressed with Penske and the interest that Kurt Busch, the 2004 Cup champion, showed in him.
“A day and a half, two days after all the stuff went down of me leaving the [No.] 18 car, Kurt was the first person that called [JGR President] J.D. [Gibbs] and asked if he could have permission to talk to me about filling the position that they had at the 2 car,” Addington said, noting that his contract with Penske is a multiyear agreement. “And that made me feel good that here’s a guy that’s won a championship, and he wants me to come and talk to him. So I never was reluctant on that end of it.”
Addington says that Kurt Busch seemed to buy into his approach to the crew chief’s role.
“I said, ‘Hey, when we have our bad days, we’ve got to work together and be heading in the same direction,’ and he was really good with it, and he liked the outlook of that,” Addington said. “As far as the organization, [team owner] Roger Penske, that guy has been successful in everything that he has done, and I feel like he’s going to give all three [Penske] cars the resources to go out and win every week and give us what we need to go racing.”
As for JGR, the 45-year-old Addington says he harbors no resentment toward his former organization, where he first served as a crew chief in the Nationwide Series in 2005.
He recalls a recent 90-minute meeting with Gibbs in which the two men were able to catch up.
“We left there friends. We didn’t burn any bridges, and we’re still great friends,” Addington said.
Now, Addington hopes to remain at Penske for a long time.
“I’m not one to change jobs,” he said. “I didn’t want to leave Gibbs Racing, but I didn’t have an option there on the Cup side, and I feel like there’s unfinished business here, and I feel like I’ve picked a great driver and a great organization to make that happen.”
SceneDaily.com•Red Bull Racing's Brian Vickers sees plenty of progress behind successful 2009 Cup season
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