Notes: Borland returns as director at Haas CNC

CONCORD, N.C. -- Matt Borland entered the garage at Lowe's Motor Speedway, and colleagues immediately began greeting him with handshakes and pats on the back. The crew chief who experienced the highs of Nextel Cup competition with Penske Racing and the lows with Michael Waltrip's organization was back, with a new title and a new team.

Haas CNC Racing has hired Borland as its competition director, overseeing the cars of Jeff Green and Johnny Sauter. Borland, who won 12 races as Ryan Newman's crew chief at Penske Racing, was released last month by Waltrip's struggling Toyota team, where he had served as Dale Jarrett's crew chief. The Michigan native turned down an offer to become Waltrip's competition director, and was also pursued by Evernham Motorsports.

"The first thing was I had to decide in my own mind was, am I done with crew chiefing for good? Is it time to step away from that?" he said Thursday. "I decided that it was, and then I looked at some different opportunities that were different from crew chiefing, yet would still be involved in racing. This was the best for me and my family."

Borland's background in engineering, which helped Newman win a series-best eight races in 2003, fit in with a Haas CNC team that's building its own rolling road wind tunnel. Haas CNC general manager Joe Custer was on the telephone to Borland soon after his divorce from Waltrip's team was complete.

"I felt like something dropped out of the sky," Custer said.

"Crew chiefs are more willing to look at it when it comes from Matt Borland than from a pure engineer who hasn't sat in their seat. You look throughout the garage, how many guys fit that bill? Let me tell you, not enough. To be able to work this through with Matt was a perfect, perfect fit."

The new position will satisfy Borland's desire to spend less time on the road, a factor that played into his split with Penske after last year. Right now, he has no plans to return to a crew chief's role.

"Who knows, long term down the road," he said. "But right now, with having two kids at home, you carry so much stress on you as a crew chief. I got to the point where I was taking some of that home with me, and it wasn't fair to my kids and my wife to put up with that. That's why I finally decided to make a change."

Borland endured a tumultuous nine-race tenure with Waltrip's team. "The fit just wasn't right," he said of his time there. The Haas team hopes for better results.

"I've never worked with him, but from the outside looking in, to me it looks like he's going to bring a lot of organization skills and be able to make our cars better before they ever leave the shop," Green said. "I know these races are won at the shop. They're not won at the racetrack. They can be lost at the racetrack, but to win these races, you've got to be prepared." (Continued)