Crew Changes will help 99 team in 2012

Racing is all about distance, and simple mathematics.

NASCAR had never had a tie for the series championship in all its years of hosting the Sprint Cup Series.  Last year, it came down to Tony Stewart winning five races and Carl Edwards only winning one event.  Now there are a lot of people that question whether or not that Carl Edwards can comeback after such a major setback and win the series championship in 2012.  No one can truly give an answer to that question right now, but if you look at some of the changes that were made in the off-season, they were very minimal to the pit crew.

There is a new set of engineers on the pit crew, and suspension man, along with tire carrier.  So when you look at it really, the changes were not major.  Crew Chief Bob Osborne is back, so is car chief Pierre Kuettel.  To be light about this, crew changes are something that a lot of teams are looking at more often in the off-season each season.  A lot like an NFL team rebuilding its offensive and defensive lines each year, teams have learned that in time crew members have to be replaced the same way.  I have worked in racing most of my life and know that there are key parts that need a change here and there, but just as in football there are certain people you don’t let loose.

Crew Chiefs and Car Chiefs in my day were the guys that were put under the big contract deals with the risk of going somewhere else with information.  Now everyone has a contract to sign themselves to.  These are like major head coaches and coordinators in the NFL, if they are good; you just don’t let someone walk out.  I can remember when Pierre Kuettel first came to Roush Fenway Racing back in 1999 from Butch Mock Motorsports who he started his NASCAR career with, he helped propel Jeff Burton to some great years with Frank Stoddard, and then helped Edwards win the Nationwide, then Busch Series championship in 2007.  A car chief is a critical element in every race team, and if you aren’t blind, you will notice since P.K. has been back as the car chief of this car, there has been less and less problems within the car, as in 2008, yes they won a lot of races but also had three major glitches that likely did cost Carl Edwards the title to Johnson that season.  A problem at Vegas caused the team to lose points, and bonus points from the win, and the splitter bolts being loose at Chicagoland cost them a big chance at victory there, and then the ignition issue at Charlotte was a very huge let down.

The responsibility that a car chief carries is something that a lot of people do not understand.  Car Chief’s do not decide on the setup, that goes between the engineers and the crew chief.  The car chief is responsible of making sure every change goes on the car in the correct manner and there isn’t anything left loose.  He is given a check list with a crew members name on it and makes sure that members responsibility is fulfilled.  As I said since P.K. has been back we’ve seen less of this issues as we did in 2007 and 2008.

The two new engineers have some shoes to fill as there was some decisions made in the off-season and it led to Scott Graves and Brian Harrison moving into the position of team engineers for the 99 crew.  With the new electronic fuel injection system coming in, that will be where the engineering teams play an even bigger role, because there will be less teams trying to push the limit on the fuel mileage this season I think.

Bob Osborne didn’t make the heavy changes that Chad Knaus did last season, but there were some.  But when you keep the main guy’s on your team there, it is key.  They know how to work with one another and can keep their heads in the job.  And when the crew chief and car chief are kept the same, that certainly helps that most of the crew knows their lead guys on the team.  Osborne has been the crew chief for this team since 2004, and through the years there have been many fans that have questioned whether or not he could get Edwards to a championship level.  Last season I think showed that they could definitely compete for the series championship and when your driver has the upmost confidence in you, that certainly pays off.

I believe that the team will be right back in the championship hunt this season.