RICHMOND, Va. -- Darian Grubb could have left two years ago. He moved to the top of Jimmie Johnson's pit box on an interim basis in 2006, after regular crew chief Chad Knaus was busted for illegal car modifications and suspended for four races. Johnson won half of those events -- including the Daytona 500 -- and Grubb's phone began to ring with offers from other organizations trying to lure him away.

But Grubb, a college-trained engineer and a company man to the core, didn't want to leave Hendrick Motorsports. That was, until Tony Stewart called, offering the Virginia native an opportunity to strike out on his own and continue his association with the Hendrick program at the same time.

Stewart on Friday announced that he had signed Grubb, currently the engineering manager for the Hendrick teams of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Casey Mears, to be the crew chief on the No. 14 car at Stewart-Haas Racing beginning next year. The 32-year-old Virginia Tech graduate will move to a new shop, but face some familiar surroundings given that Stewart's team will use engines and chassis manufactured by the Hendrick organization.

"I've never wanted to step outside the Hendrick Motorsports organization until this opportunity came up," Grubb said at Richmond International Raceway. "I'm extremely excited to basically be able to continue my Hendrick knowledge, and just be able to continue to use these chassis and engines and everything going forward, and being able to build that organizational strength outside of Hendrick Motorsports. This opportunity is a great chance for me to be able to step out and almost go out on my own."

He steps into big shoes. The end of this season will bring the end of the longest active driver-crew chief relationship, the bond between Stewart and Greg Zipadelli that goes back to Stewart's first days at Joe Gibbs Racing in 1999. The pair won two championships together, but Zipadelli also acted as equal parts mentor, protector, confidante and sounding board for a driver who's endured his share of tumult on and off the racetrack. It helps that Grubb and Zipadelli are good friends, and that Stewart's future crew chief is able to stop his current crew chief and pick his brain whenever he needs to.

"Anytime you have somebody who has a 10-year relationship, you're kind of foolish if you don't go talk to that person, to just get a feel for how things go," Grubb said. "A 10-year relationship, it's going to be hard to build that history up and recreate that right off the bat. But Zippy's a very good guy. I consider him a good friend of mine and a good co-worker in the garage. It's one of those things where, I won't have a hard time giving him a call, I don't think, if I have an issue or something I want to talk to him about."

Zipadelli seems to approve. When it became clear that Stewart was going to offer the job to Grubb, the driver went to his old friend for his opinion. "Greg was very high on Darian," Stewart said, "and that's something that was important to me." While Grubb still needs to learn Stewart's language -- just how tight is "tight," for example -- the two seem to be off to a good start in terms of communication.

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You look at the stats that [Grubb's] accumulated and just the confidence he brings. He's not a guy sitting up here that doesn't have the confidence that he can do the job.

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TONY STEWART

"Last week we had a two-and-a-half hour dinner. To get me at a restaurant for two-and-a-half hours in one seat is almost a feat in itself," Stewart said. "But probably half the dinner was talking personal stuff as much as talking on the professional side, and what we were going to do. That's how it starts. You don't just walk into a room with somebody and say, I'm Tony, and I'm Darian, and start working and everything clicks. It's knowing each other inside and out."

And as for handling the sometimes tempestuous side of Stewart? "I don't think it will be any different at all," Grubb said, referring to other drivers he's worked with. "I've been outside talking to Tony away from the racetrack, and the attitude is and stuff is just completely different. He's a genuine, normal guy, as you are outside the racetrack. He's a guy you can sit and talk to and carry on. My wife and I hung out with him and it was just a good time. I think we'll get along just fine."

Grubb came to Hendrick in 2003 after working as a crew chief in the Hooters Pro Cup Series and as a shock specialist and engineer for Petty Enterprises. The engineer for Johnson's No. 48 team, he worked four races as crew chief during Knaus' suspension, winning at Daytona and Las Vegas. He was Hendrick's lead engineer until 2007, when he served as crew chief for Mears, winning the Coca-Cola 600 and finishing 15th in final points. With the arrival of new crew chief Tony Eury Jr., he was able to return to his engineer's role for this season. He's been credited with helping Earnhardt mesh almost seamlessly into the organization.

"Without a doubt, it's a loss for Hendrick Motorsports," Johnson said. "Darian's been in a managerial role, and I think he's had his eye on crew chiefing all along, and didn't want that opportunity to go away. So I'm excited for him, and wish him the best. He's going to do a great job for those guys, and it's going to be good for us with the relationship Hendrick has with Stewart-Haas, to have somebody over there that we know and can communicate with and is talking the same language. That can be a very useful tool."

That relationship existed before Stewart, and thus far has produced decidedly inconclusive results. Although the organization now known as Haas-CNC Racing receives equipment and technical help from Hendrick, the two teams have sometimes struggled to get on the same page -- while most of Hendrick's cars contend for championships, both of Haas' struggle to stay in the top 35. There hasn't really been someone at the Haas shop who's been able to easily decipher Hendrick information and put it to use.

"I think you could make an argument for that," Johnson agreed.

All of which made Grubb an almost natural choice. His Hendrick heritage helps to offset his relative inexperience on the pit box, which consists of just 40 races. But he also has those three victories, two of them in marquee events.

"You look at the stats that he's accumulated over that amount of time, and just the confidence he brings," Stewart said. "He's not a guy sitting up here that doesn't have the confidence that he can do the job. We saw that when we talked to him. And obviously his stats on paper were what we were confident with, his association with Hendrick Motorsports, knowing we were going to be dealing with Hendrick motors and Hendrick chassis. We felt confident that was the right equation. But having someone like Darian who's very familiar with that system right off the bat even brings that much more comfort and security to the program. Spending time with him, just seeing the confidence in his eyes and in his voice when you talk to him, you know he's the right guy."

Also: Stewart hires Grubb as crew chief of new team