CUP: Ford Out As Hamlin’s Crew Chief

Sprint Cup

CUP: Ford Out As Hamlin’s Crew Chief

Darian Grubb is considered the top contender to replace Mike Ford as Denny Hamlin’s crew chief at JGR…

Mike Hembree | Posted December 06, 2011 Charlotte, NC

Denny Hamlin (Left) and Mike Ford (Right) endured a disappointing 2011 season. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Denny Hamlin will start the 2012 season with a new crew chief, according to a Tuesday report by The Associated Press.

The AP quoted crew chief Mike Ford as saying that he had been told by Joe Gibbs Racing officials that he would not return as Hamlin’s pit-row boss next season.

The top candidate to replace Ford apparently is Darian Grubb, who won the Sprint Cup championship this season as crew chief for Tony Stewart. Stewart informed Grubb about two months ago that the team would release him at the end of the season. The team rallied to win the title, but Stewart’s decision on Grubb stood.

Grubb has had conversations with numerous teams and has a standing offer to return to Hendrick Motorsports, which he left three years ago to join Stewart’s restructured team, in the engineering department.

Hamlin and Ford have been a driver-crew chief team since 2006, Hamlin’s first full season in Sprint Cup. Hamlin has won 17 races over that span and has been in the Chase for the Sprint Cup in each of the six seasons.

The team struggled this season, however, winning only one race and finishing ninth in points after Hamlin had points finishes of second and fifth in the two previous seasons.

During interviews last week in Las Vegas, Hamlin played the middle in conversations about Ford, saying they had enjoyed success together but stressing that the team needs to step up its game to challenge for what would be Hamlin’s first championship.

“We’ve had a lot of success together,” Hamlin said. “He’s been kind of the guy who’s been the rock on our race team and kept our guys together. Obviously, we need to improve our performance, and we’re willing to do whatever it takes to do that.”

Asked about Grubb, Hamlin said, “He’s obviously a championship crew chief and a guy who’s on the market. We’ve got to focus on what it’s going to take us to be better with the tools and people we have to work with. But we’ll do whatever it takes to run better. After a year like this we’ve got nowhere to go but up.”

Ford began his Cup crew chief career in 2000 with Gillett-Evernham Motorsports and driver Bill Elliott. He and Elliott won two races, including the Brickyard 400, in 2002.

Ford, who has 21 career wins, won eight times with Hamlin in 2010 as they battled Jimmie Johnson for the championship. Hamlin failed in the final race, however, and finished second to Johnson.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 29 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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Mike Hembree

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