Mears surprised, but pleased with change (cont'd)

"Lance has proven to be a winner on every level he's raced, and we're excited about the positive impact he can make on our overall efforts," HMS general manager Marshall Carlson said Thursday. "He's a first-class person with broad experience in this organization who will continue to contribute to our success."

"I really hope Lance finds something within the organization and can still be a part of things," Mears said. "Because he's very valuable and has a lot of experience and we don't want to lose that."

Grubb stepped into a brilliant spotlight in Cup racing last year when Johnson's crew chief, Chad Knaus, was suspended for four races after Daytona 500 Bud Pole Qualifying for a technical infraction found in post-qualifying inspection.

Grubb stepped up from the team Knaus assembled and scored the hallmark 500 victory, second place at California, a win at Las Vegas and sixth place at Atlanta before Knaus returned.

"[Me and Johnson] talked a lot about Darian stepping in for him last year and how impressed [Johnson] was with him and how calm [Grubb] was, the way he approached situations and his attention to detail in trying to sort out and really get the feel that Jimmie wanted in the car," Mears said. "He was just impressed with that. So right now, it's a surprise to get the change at this point [because] I was really looking forward to working with Lance, we had a good rapport and things were going well.

"The team had their reasons for making this decision and I support 'em. It's a team that's been around for a long time and they understand what it's going to take to win races and win championships in this sport, and for whatever reason they felt like this was the right scenario for us to go out and do well.

"I think if there was anybody capable or anybody that could have stepped in and eased any apprehension I had about having a new crew chief, it was Darian. He is the guy that definitely was the right guy for the job, within the company because there was nobody else that I could see, at this point just being able to pluck out and put in this situation and be able to deal with it."

Carlson said the timing -- though it seemed last-minute -- was correct and that there was little question Grubb was the person of choice.

"Our season is year-round, so we're constantly evaluating everything we do [and] we felt that adjusting immediately would be most beneficial for the organization," Carlson said. "With the No. 25 team, we saw an opportunity to make adjustments and felt Darian was the right person to lead those efforts.

"He has a strong history here and his leadership ability is already proven."

During preseason testing at Daytona in January, Mears was 12th out of 64 cars but he said "no, it wasn't between us" when asked if test results led to the change and added that conjecture that another organization had approached Grubb about a crew chief's position was "digging pretty deep."

"It was just a team decision based on information they've had over the last couple of years, and what they felt maybe would be a better fit," Mears said. "There were really no bad issues and there wasn't one thing that set them off to spark this decision -- it was just a series of events leading up to where we are now that they felt this was the best scenario.

"It would take forever to explain that and to be honest, I don't know all the reasons right now, but like I said, I was really looking forward to working with Lance, and by the same token I'm really looking forward to working with Darian [because] in no way, shape or form did we take a step backwards."

Mears said he didn't anticipate a move and laughed when it was pointed out that Grubb himself had mentioned last year that he wasn't looking for a crew chief's role after his brief fill-in for Knaus.

"He did say that he didn't think he wanted to go that direction," Mears said. "At the same time, one thing that he did express was that he wanted it to be the right scenario, and he felt this was a good opportunity, which I took as a huge compliment." (Continued)