KHI, Red Horse crew chief changes coincidental

What appeared to be a post-season trade of Camping World Truck Series championship-level crew chiefs between Red Horse Racing and Kevin Harvick Inc. was "purely coincidence," a Red Horse spokesperson said Monday evening.

KHI has announced Jeff Hensley, who most recently led Timothy Peters to a career-best sixth-place finish in the 2010 Truck Series standings, is crew chief for four-time Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday's No. 33 Chevrolet; while former KHI crew chief Butch Hylton, who won a Busch Series owners' championship in 2003 with Richard Childress Racing and was the car chief on Bobby Labonte's 2000 Cup championship team at Joe Gibbs Racing, takes the same role for Peters' No. 17 RHR Toyota.

Late in the 2010 season, Harvick and KHI team manager Rick Carelli shuffled their crew chief lineup. Hylton, who earlier this season posted victories for KHI in both the Nationwide Series, with Tony Stewart, and the Truck Series with Harvick and Elliott Sadler using KHI's No. 2 truck, took the reins of Hornaday's team at Martinsville.

Out of the box, Hornaday and Hylton started third and won the Martinsville race and followed the next weekend at Talladega with a pole. But Hornaday was involved in accidents -- none of which he caused -- for three consecutive races. Despite finishing second to Kyle Busch at Homestead, Hornaday fell to seventh in the standings, his worst finish since he also was seventh in 2006.

Hensley, a former driver who was crew chief for his father, Hubert Hensley, on Chuck Bown's 1990 Busch Series championship team, also guided Mike Skinner to second in the 2007 Truck championship with the No. 5 Bill Davis Racing Toyota. Hensley moved to Red Horse for 2010, where he guided Peters to a season-opening victory at Daytona, four weeks leading the championship and virtually the entire season in the top five in points until he fell to sixth at the end.

"We are proud to welcome Jeff to KHI and to be able to pair him with Ron Hornaday," Harvick said. "Jeff brings with him a wealth of experience and knowledge, which we think will be beneficial to not only the No. 33 team and Ron but the organization as a whole."

"I am thrilled to be a part of KHI and really excited to get to work," Jeff Hensley said. "Ron is a tough competitor and we have a record fifth career championship that we are focused on for 2011."

Hensley, 48, a native of Ridgeway, Va., has more than 30 years of racing experience. He began his racing career at age 18, competing on various short tracks throughout Virginia and North Carolina. He made 90 Busch Series starts from 1982-85, when he became crew chief for the family's Hensley Motorsports.