Lance McGrew (Pictured) will move over to the No. 5 team of Mark Martin this year. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

“My commitment to Mark and my sponsors and everybody else, we’re not going to have a lame-duck situation,” said team owner Rick Hendrick, after announcing that he was swapping three of his four crew chiefs. “We’re going to go for wins and championships, and Mark can do that. And that team can do that.”

No. 9 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford, Marcos Ambrose and Todd Parrott — With one foot in the grave, RPM lived to fight on thanks to a new ownership group that came onboard this week. But with massive layoffs at the team and an uncertain sponsorship situation, Parrott might have the toughest task ahead of him of any of the new crew chiefs.

“I’ve been spending time with him (Ambrose) dating back to Kansas or Fontana,” Parrott told FOXSports.com’s Lee Spencer. “We’ve been talking, working on communication. He’s been coming over here, getting fitted for seats. He has some ideas of what he wants, what he’s looking for, so the conversations between us have been very good.”

No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Jeff Gordon and Alan Gustafson — This is the most intriguing pairing out there. Gustafson is regarded as a brilliant and talented young crew chief whose star is on the rise, while the four-time champion Gordon’s record speaks for itself.

Both men are coming off disappointing seasons and are very hungry to show the world that they can win a championship, or at least a few races.

“He and Jeff have a relationship,” team owner Hendrick said of Gustafson. “He’s very technical, not a lot of conversation but very to the point and matter-of-fact. And Jeff I think at this point in his career, and with his track record, that works good for Jeff.”

No. 27 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, Paul Menard and Slugger Labbe — Coming off a productive first year together at RPM, Menard and Labbe will move to Richard Childress Racing in 2011, where they should be able to continue to deliver improved results.

“Working with Paul this year and him working with me, we kind of know each other, so hopefully it will help the transition over to RCR to be seamless,” Labbe said in a recent interview with SceneDaily.com reporter Bob Pockrass. “I’ve been talking a lot to the people over at RCR. They’re building cars for us now. We’ve got a huge jump on 2011 already. … I understand Paul’s lingo and his mentality, what he likes, what he doesn’t like. I know that already. When we get to Daytona, it’s not like we’re going to be nervous.”

Alan Gustafson (Pictured) will be paired with four-time champ Jeff Gordon in 2011. (Photo: Getty Images)

No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Steve Letarte — NASCAR’s perennially most-popular driver has had two miserable seasons in a row, 25th in points in 2009 and 21st this past season. Earnhardt’s fans blamed his former crew chief McGrew and car owner Hendrick for their favorite driver’s lackluster performances, but the truth is, Earnhardt needs to deliver in 2011 after winning just one points race in the previous three seasons at Hendrick Motorsports.

“I think Junior has lot of respect for Steve, and Steve has a lot of insight on Junior because he’s mentioned it to me a couple of times in the debriefs and so forth,” said Hendrick. “I feel like Dale needs a guy he can communicate with, who has a proven track record and a really great team. I think Steve will be able to, because of that chemistry between the two of them, I think that will be very good. That’s where I think that one works.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.