Organization will announce full teams after 2014 season
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HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — While Joe Gibbs Racing announced 2015 sponsorship additions for drivers Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards on Wednesday, officials said they are still working through several other key items for 2015.
Chief among them is the crew chief lineup for the four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams of Kenseth, Edwards, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin.
Team owner Joe Gibbs said the organization has determined the 2015 crew chief rosters, but that the changes won’t be announced until the 2014 season has been completed.
For this year, the group’s Sprint Cup Series crew chief/driver lineup consists of Jason Ratcliff overseeing the No. 20 team of Kenseth, Darian Grubb running the No. 11 team of Hamlin and Dave Rogers handling crew chief duties for Kyle Busch and the No. 18 group.
Last week at Chicagoland Speedway, where this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup got under way, Grubb said the focus for now was on competing for this year’s title. All three Gibbs drivers qualified for the 16-team Chase Grid.
“We’re still working on a lot of things,” Grubb said, “concentrating on winning the Chase with Joe Gibbs Racing and this FedEx Toyota right now.”
Grubb took over Hamlin’s pit box following a championship-winning season in 2011 with driver Tony Stewart at Stewart-Haas Racing. Seven of his 21 career wins as crew chief have come with Hamlin.
Ratcliff and Kenseth have been paired together since 2013, when Kenseth joined the group after departing Roush Fenway Racing. A seven-time winner in the series, Ratcliff led Kenseth to six of his seven wins last season and won once with Joey Logano in 2012.
Rogers has been calling the shots for Busch since 2009, and the two have combined for 13 wins.
JGR also has three NASCAR Nationwide Series teams from which it could pull talent, as it did with Rogers and Ratcliff.
Adam Stevens oversees the No. 54 Toyota driven primarily by Kyle Busch, with Sam Hornish Jr. making a handful of appearances;
Kevin Kidd heads up the crew for the No. 20, which has seen eight different drivers slide behind the wheel this year;
And Chris Gayle runs the No. 11 operation with driver Elliott Sadler.
Team president J.D. Gibbs said the organization is still shoring up its NNS lineup for next season as well, and hopes to have those teams squared away within the next two to three weeks.
Gibbs said Hornish, the former IndyCar champion who has served as an analyst on race broadcasts in addition to making six starts with JGR, is not locked in for 2015.
Hornish, 35, has one remaining start scheduled with the No. 54 team, this weekend at Kentucky Speedway.
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