NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
  • Peg It on GarageMonkey
SPENCER: The Fall Guy
When a team isn’t performing, the crew chief is usually the first to go...
Jimmy Spencer  |  Posted July 27, 2011   Charlotte, NC
Jimmy Spencer calls it like he sees it on SPEED. (Photo: SPEED)
Greg Erwin, Brian Pattie, Todd Berrier and Pat Tryson.

If you didn’t know who they were before, you probably saw their names in the news the past two weeks. They’re NASCAR Sprint Cup Series crew chiefs who have been replaced due to their team’s poor performance.

Were they bad crew chiefs? No. But that didn’t stop them from taking the fall for lackluster finishes.

That’s just the way it goes in a crew chief’s world. One minute you’re on the top of the world with a string of good runs, but the next you’re out the door after hitting a slump. Poor performance usually is not treated as the driver’s fault – it’s all on the guy calling the shots atop the pit box. Car owners are in a dilemma, though, when their team isn’t running well. The driver usually is under contract for about three years, and the sponsor’s contract is tied to the driver. So, when the team isn’t performing, the owner has to make a change to try to get better results for the sponsor. That’s where the crew chief comes in.

But is it fair? Not always. Crew chiefs are the ones who decide what setup to put under the car, when to pit and how to call the race, so in that sense, performance is their responsibility. However, there are some Cup drivers who don’t have what it takes to contend for championships and never will. They have won a couple of races and will win a few more, but they’re never going to be annual contenders in the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup. Sometimes owners hire these guys and then realize they’re only mediocre drivers – not champions – but they’re stuck with them for a couple of years and have to do whatever necessary to appease the sponsor. So, they swap out the crew chief. He’s the fall guy.

Then there are some crew chiefs, such as Greg Zipadelli and Chad Knaus, who have established themselves as so superior in their field that they’re always going to be safe, despite how the team might temporarily be performing. Zipadelli led Tony Stewart to two championships at Joe Gibbs Racing, but he has struggled with Joey Logano in the car. But don’t look for Zippy to be replaced – I think Logano will be the one to go, if anyone does, because Joe Gibbs knows Zippy can get the job done. He has proven himself.
Although Logano has a lot of potential, something isn’t clicking with the No. 20 team (I personally think they moved Logano to the Cup Series too quickly). Zippy has done a good job coaching and trying to motivate his driver, but I still look for a change in the driver’s seat there. Guys like Zippy have established themselves as so successful that when they’re having an off-year, their head likely isn’t on the chopping block.

The same is true for Jimmy Fennig, a longtime Roush Fenway Racing crew chief. He’s probably the oldest crew chief on the circuit but he’s still getting the job done. When he was the crew chief for David Ragan, they didn’t make much noise together, but since Roush moved him back to the No. 17 Ford with Matt Kenseth, they’ve won two races together this year and are contending for the championship. The problem with Fennig on the No. 6 team wasn’t the crew chief – it was the driver – so Roush recognizes Fennig’s value and likely will keep him around for a long time to come.

I can’t say the same for the other crew chiefs whose teams aren’t in the top 10 or 12. With seven races remaining before the Chase starts, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some more musical chairs in the garage area. If I had to pick a high-profile team who might get a new crew chief in the near future, I’d have to look at Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 team. That probably surprises a lot of people, but Hamlin isn’t having the success they’re accustomed to. We’re hearing some rumblings about crew chief Mike Ford possibly being moved off of that team in the next few weeks. I don’t know if it will happen or not, but sometimes an unexpected change like that can shake up a team and improve its morale. It can light a fire under the guys to step up their performance so they’re not the next one the car owner singles out. Ford is a good crew chief, though, and if he were to be moved, it would be in an attempt to find the right chemistry – not to find someone who can get the job done better. And it would be just another example of the crew chief being the fall guy.

Jimmy Spencer calls it like he sees it on NASCAR Race Hub on SPEED. He retired from driving with two NASCAR Sprint Cup, 12 NASCAR Nationwide and one NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory, putting him in an elite group of drivers who have logged wins in all three of NASCAR’s premier divisions. In 478 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts, Spencer amassed 28 top-five and 80 top-10 finishes. He won back-to-back NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championships in 1986 and 1987 on the heels of 15 victories, becoming the first driver ever to earn consecutive titles in the series. He earned the nickname “Mr. Excitement” for his flamboyant and aggressive driving style early in his racing career.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
jimmy_spencer's avatar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jimmy Spencer

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
Advertising | Jobs | Feedback | FAQ | Terms of Use | NEW Privacy Policy | Ad Choices | Site Map
Fox Sports | FUEL TV | FX Network | National Geographic | IGN | AskMen
The Motor Sports Authority, SPEED and associated logos are registered trademarks of Speed Channel Inc.
All Rights Reserved © Speed Channel, Inc. 2013

All external links will open in a new browser window. SPEED.com does not endorse external sites.