Baldwin named crew chief for Blaney, No. 22 Toyota

HIGH POINT, N.C. -- Bill Davis Racing has announced that Tommy Baldwin Jr. has assumed the role of crew chief for the No. 22 Caterpillar Racing team and driver Dave Blaney. Baldwin takes over those duties from Kevin Hamlin, who is no longer with the team.

The move is a reunion of sorts as Baldwin returns to the top of the Caterpillar pit box after leading that team to victory in four events, including the 2001 Southern 500 and 2002 Daytona 500, with driver Ward Burton.

"Kevin Hamlin was an important part of the organization and we appreciate everything he has done for us for the past year-and-a-half, but we feel like the Caterpillar Racing team is not living up to its full potential," team owner Bill Davis said. "As competitive as this sport has become, we owe it to our sponsors and everyone involved with Bill Davis Racing to make this team as strong as possible and in this case we felt a change was the best way to do that.

"We are fortunate to have someone like Tommy Baldwin, who has had so much success as a crew chief to fill that position. Some of our proudest moments at Bill Davis Racing came with Tommy leading the Caterpillar team."

After nearly finishing in the top five three races ago, at Richmond, Blaney's uneven performance continued when he qualified 27th and finished 32nd at Darlington, before qualifying eighth and finishing 18th at the Coca-Cola 600. The team failed to qualify at Dover, the second race Blaney's missed in the last five.

Blaney's best finish is 11th, at Richmond, and the 18th at Lowe's is his only other top-20. Last season, Blaney had a fourth-place at Richmond and one other top-10 finish.

During the coming weeks, Baldwin also will continue to serve as competition director for all of BDR's Nextel Cup teams and assuring BDR's growth as an organization. Baldwin was Jeremy Mayfield's interim crew chief for several races earlier this season before David Hyder was hired at the end of May.