Former race engineer for No. 31 team starts immediately
RELATED: See other changes for 2015
Jamie McMurray will have a new crew chief for the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.
Matt McCall will take the reins of the No. 1 Chevrolet team from Keith Rodden for Chip Ganassi Racing effective immediately. McCall joins the team from Richard Childress Racing, where he served as the race engineer for the No. 31 team of Ryan Newman, which finished as the runner-up in the Sprint Cup championship.
McCall has experience competing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series as a driver. He also served as a crew chief for one race in 2013 for Jeff Burton at Indianapolis.
The Denver, North Carolina, native graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a major in mechanical engineering.
"I am very excited to join the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates team," McCall said in a team release. "This organization is one that everyone in the garage has taken notice of in 2014 and I am just looking forward to the opportunity to make them even better. We have a group of very talented people building and driving the race cars here and I can't wait to get started."
There was no immediate word on Rodden's future with Chip Ganassi Racing.
In 2014, McMurray finished with the most top-fives (seven) since 2010 and the most top-10s (13) since 2004. In addition to winning the 2014 Sprint All-Star Race, McMurray and Rodden really seemed to find their stride in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. While McMurray did not qualify for the 10-race playoff, he racked up four top-five finishes in that 10-race stretch.
"I am really looking forward to 2015 and beginning to work with Matt," McMurray said in a team release. "As a team, I think we will carry a lot of momentum into Daytona and the hiring of Matt will continue to move the program forward."
McMurray, who has competed in the sport's premier series full time for 12 years, has seven wins -- including the 2010 Daytona 500.
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