Crew chief Rogers making most of his second chance

Dave Rogers sits in a quiet transporter in a quiet garage area, his only company one crewman analyzing data and another preparing shocks. Outside, it's the lull between practices, and men in team shirts are firing up grills in preparation for an early dinner. There are few fans and even fewer journalists walking the long rows between haulers and garage stalls, a stark contrast to the sometimes stifling foot traffic on the Sprint Cup side. It's an atmosphere conducive to quiet, undisturbed work.

And that's just how Dave Rogers likes it. "I'm 100 percent happy as crew chief of a Nationwide car," he said. "I could do this for the rest of my career and be happy."

No wonder, with the success he's enjoying this year. The mild-mannered and soft-spoken Rogers oversees the most dominant car this season in NASCAR -- not the No. 18 of Kyle Busch on the Sprint Cup circuit, but the No. 20 Nationwide Series entry for Joe Gibbs Racing. Despite having four different drivers this season, the car has won nine times in 20 starts entering Saturday night's event in Madison, Ill. And the man behind it all is Rogers, who after a brief and unhappy stint at NASCAR's top level has found contentment in the sport's second series.

Dave Rogers

No. 20 JGR Toyota

2008 Results

Race	Driver	Finish	Led
Daytona	T. Stewart	1	46
California	T. Stewart	1	136
Las Vegas	T. Stewart	27	61
Atlanta	Ky. Busch	24	153
Bristol	D. Hamlin	26	37
Nashville	Ky. Busch	16	125
Texas	T. Stewart	10	12
Phoenix	D. Hamlin	3	18
Mexico	Ky. Busch	1	22
Talladega	T. Stewart	1	81
Richmond	D. Hamlin	1	12
Darlington	T. Stewart	1	90
Charlotte	D. Hamlin	2	0
Dover	J. Logano	1	0
Nashville	J. Logano	31	64
Kentucky	J. Logano	1	76
Milwaukee	J. Logano	2	35
Loudon	T. Stewart	1	75
Daytona	D. Hamlin	1	29
Chicagoland	T. Stewart	9	0

He's found it despite the hassle of swapping out seats and seatbelts and realigning steering wheels and mirrors to fit the team's four drivers -- Busch, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano, who will pilot the No. 20 this weekend at Gateway International Raceway. Each of them has won at least once. Rogers and his tireless crew have a 190-point lead in the Nationwide owner standings, and have found that the revolving door of drivers has helped them in ways they previously wouldn't have thought.

"It's helped keep us from getting stagnant," Rogers said. "Each of the drivers wants a little something different, but every time a driver asks for something different, it's forcing you to learn. And that bleeds over to the next driver. Sometimes Kyle Busch will lead us down a path that he likes, and we'd be somewhat narrow-minded if we said Kyle is the only one who would like that. We actually would go and try it with Tony, and lo and behold Tony likes it, too. And Tony says, 'That's good, but what if we do this?' And we build on a little bit more, and Joey says, 'I like that, what about this?' It just keeps you from getting stagnant. With leading the laps we've led and winning the races we've won, I'm very paranoid about getting stagnant."

There have been no signs of stagnancy thus far on the No. 20 team, which last won two weeks ago with Hamlin at Daytona. But for Rogers, 34, it all goes much deeper than multiple trips to Victory Lane. This is a second chance of sorts for a crew chief who seemed ticketed for the big time in 2005, when the former engineer on Stewart's team was promoted to crew chief and paired with Jason Leffler in Gibbs' No. 11 Cup car. But the communication between driver and crew chief was never right, and performance suffered as a result. By June of that same season Rogers was out, replaced by veteran Mike Ford, who remains with the No. 11 team to this day.

"When I took it, I knew it was a huge responsibility," Rogers said. "I was very excited for it. And then for some reason, things just didn't click with Jason and I. We were just different personality-wise. I don't know if that makes either one of us a bad person, but it just didn't work. We realized it early. Jason and I realized it really early in the season and said, you know what, I see red, you see blue. We're probably doomed."

Rogers went to the man who had promoted him, team president J.D. Gibbs. He told Gibbs that the combination wasn't working, that he'd understand if he wanted to make a change. Gibbs told Rogers that he believed in him, and to tough it out. So the crew chief went back to work -- until the inevitable change came anyway.

"I really dug my heels in and said, all right, I'm really going to do this. No matter what it takes, I'm going to find a way to turn this program around," Rogers said. "We were working extremely hard, and we were starting to make a little bit of progress -- not quick enough, but we finished in the top 20 at Dover, which was a milestone for us. Then I kind of got blindsided, and got the carpet swept from underneath me. What hurt the most in that deal was, like this deal, I really focus on people. I try to surround myself with the best people I can. I felt like I had a strong group of guys on the 11 car who were really committed to me, and I almost felt like I was being torn away from my second family. That's what hurt the most."

Rogers went back to work in the organization's engineering department until 2005, when, at Hamlin's request, Gibbs named him crew chief for the No. 20 Nationwide operation. There would be less pressure, and more time to build the program the way Rogers wanted to do it. It proved a perfect fit.

"When I analyze programs, what I see is, over on the Cup side, there's so much pressure. You have to perform now. You have to get it done, you have to qualify. I came in with a slightly different philosophy of how I wanted to do things, and I don't feel that with the pressure and the circumstances I was able to do that on the Cup side and make it work," Rogers said.

"Over here, the program's a little bit more laid back, because there's less pressure. And I felt like I was given a little more wiggle room to do things my way, to structure the team the way I wanted to structure it, to get the right people in that I wanted to get in, and have them perform their jobs this sort of way. It took two and a half years to get to that point. And now we've gotten to that point, and everybody is comfortable. We all know our roles. And now that we're succeeding, it's somewhat gratifying to say that, in some sense, I was right way back then. I just didn't have the time to show it."

It shows in another way, as well. Aside from the crew chief, that No. 11 team on the Sprint Cup side remains today almost exactly as Rogers organized it, with most of the same people in the same roles. It may be Ford's team, but they're still Rogers' guys, now winning races and contenting for Chase berths with Hamlin behind the wheel.

"Mike Ford is doing a great job over there. They're running well, they're winning races," Rogers said. "But it is satisfying to look over there and say, hey, that's still my truck driver, my car chief, my mechanics. I'm pleased that on the people thing, I must have done something right, because Mike Ford is winning races without me. So yeah, that's gratifying."

So is winning races, something Rogers and his team have done regularly -- so regularly, in fact, that NASCAR took 10 Nationwide engines to its research and development facility for examination, sparking speculation that rules changes may be in the offing. Powered by Toyota horsepower, the Gibbs team has won 13 times in the Nationwide Series already this season, the squad's No. 18 car having made four trips to Victory Lane in addition to the No. 20 team's nine. J.D. Gibbs credits the fact that the team now builds its own chassis instead of buying them, and that their Nationwide cars are now assembled alongside Sprint Cup cars, with crewmen from both series taking part in the construction.

"Just give our guys some credit," Gibbs said. "They're doing a good job. Don't just keep yanking on them and saying anybody could do it, because that's not the case."

Hamlin agrees. "I've never seen that team itself, that Nationwide team, work so hard," he said. "They're working after hours every single week. They're not wrecking cars or anything like that, they're just trying to get better. That's hard to beat. People can gripe about Toyota all they want, but we're really the only Toyotas running that well. We had to sit through four or five years of [Richard Childress Racing] kicking everyone's rear ends, and we were running fifth every week with no chance of winning unless something dramatic happened. Let those guys have their reign. Even if it's for one year, they deserve it, because they've worked their tails off."

Rogers sees that commitment firsthand. "They really make a lot of sacrifices for me, hours-wise," he said of his crew.

But now, a larger question looms: would Rogers ever leave them? The success of the No. 20 car would appear to make the Nationwide crew chief a candidate for a Sprint Cup job should another team have a vacancy or should Gibbs roll out a fourth car. Rogers knows the interest is out there; he's getting questioned occasionally on how happy he is with Gibbs. He knows the money on the Sprint Cup side is much bigger. But he also knows from personal experience that the pressure and expectations are huge as well.

"If any Cup team calls and is offering big money, I'm smart enough to know, OK, perform or else," Rogers said. "You've got to look at that. Yeah, that big money up front, that's great. That goes a long ways. But what if you don't perform? Now you've just left the greatest organization for a bigger paycheck, and now that [new] organization is letting you go because you're not making the numbers they want. Where do you go? Here, I don't have that question."

At Gibbs, he has a degree of security; if he went to J.D. Gibbs tomorrow asking to get off the road, Rogers said, he's sure the team would have a place for him. He has what he believes to be an unparalleled working relationship with Jason Ratcliff, the crew chief of Gibbs' other Nationwide car. He has people working with him who don't want him to leave.

"I'd love to see him stay right there where he's at," Hamlin said, smiling. "He's been on the Cup side before in the No. 11 car, but I definitely think he's learned a whole lot more over these last couple of years on being a team leader and managing his race team. I think he's learned that over the last couple of years."

He has a sense of perspective honed from his previous experience. And above all, Rogers has a feeling of contentment.

"If J.D. has a fourth car or an opening over there and wants me to move up, we can talk about it. If that never happens, I'm content staying here," he said. "And when I say enough is enough, I'm confident J.D. will have something for me to do. That security, that long-term security for my family and for me, is pretty big. It would be hard to put a price tag on this deal. I've seen a lot of friends in this business get big offers, and they take them because the money is just so attractive, and then, something happens. Expectations aren't met. And now you're on the outside looking in, and Joe Gibbs has already filled your position."

He pauses for a few seconds, pondering his reaction should an offer to return to the Sprint Cup ranks arise. "Anything's possible," he said. But: "I'd be very surprised if you didn't see me wearing a Joe Gibbs uniform in 10 years. I'm pretty happy."