Inside the Garage: No. 16 crew chief Greg Erwin

If you haven't heard by now, there are two different divisions of teams in NASCAR's Nextel Cup Series: the haves, and the have-nots.

Greg Erwin has seen both ends of that spectrum, and now he's making the jump from a single-car team to one with the most entries in the top stock-car racing circuit in the world.

Erwin left Robby Gordon Motorsports to ascend atop the pit box for the No. 16 team driven by championship contender Greg Biffle, and he has some thoughts on his role with the team, the pecking order in the series and what he sees as the future of the sport.

Q: You've been on one side of the fence with a single-car team. What goes through your mind when you see the resources available to you at Roush Fenway Racing?

Erwin: Probably the biggest thing is learning what is there to work with, what's there that's useful and what's there that's not useful yet because it's not far enough down the road or it hasn't been incorporated into the racing teams. All of this engineering, all the R&D, all the testing means nothing to anyone unless it makes it to the racetrack and on the racecar.

Q: What are the biggest challenges of making a move like this?

Erwin: For me, the challenge is to come in here and learn a system and try not to only fix what's broke. We don't need to start over, reinvent the wheel. Most of these guys have a lot of experience; they've all been racing a long time. This organization has a history of winning races and running very well. Greg has all the driving talent in the world necessary to win races and compete for championships.

Q: In your opinion, why hasn't the 16 team competed for titles on a more regular basis?

Erwin: It seems like there are some subtle things that need to happen to help pull this thing together a little bit. I don't know if it's all about equipment, if it's all about people, or if it's all about confidence, but the challenges we're going to face are the same as we faced at Robby's, just in different amounts. I wore a lot of hats at Robby's, finding people for all the different departments, things I'm sure some of these guys don't have to worry that much about. Here, I'm sure the challenges are how to use or incorporate the resources that Mr. Roush provides you to make your car go faster. (Continued)