Pattie, Scott switch teams; company also reorganizes engineers
Michael Waltrip Racing will reassign the crew chiefs for each of its two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams effective immediately, the team announced Tuesday.
Brian Pattie will become the crew chief for the No. 55 Toyota Camry driven by David Ragan, while Billy Scott will become the crew chief for the No. 15 Toyota Camry driven by Clint Bowyer.
Bowyer, who has not won a race since winning three on his way to a runner-up finish in 2012 and failed to make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup last season, parts ways with Pattie, who teamed up with the driver following that team's inception in 2012. The No. 15 team currently sits 17th in points, while Ragan is 23rd.
Ragan is the fourth driver in the No. 55 this year; Brian Vickers, the team's full-time driver, has competed in just two races due to health issues. Michael Waltrip has logged two races, and Brett Moffitt filled in for six races before Ragan got the job.
"Our goal is to best position the 15 and 55 teams for a berth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup," said co-owner Rob Kauffman in a team release. "MWR has an enormous amount of bright, motivated and quality people working to solve the endless challenges inherent to racing. We have won poles and races, we have made the Chase and competed for a championship with this core group of personnel. We just felt it was time to shake things up a bit to try and spark fresh ideas and more consistent results. There are 12 races left before the 2015 Chase field is set and we plan to be a part of it."
Scott has been the crew chief of the No. 55 since August 2013, and previously served under Rodney Childers as that team's lead engineer.
Additional changes include a reorganization of lead, secondary and support engineers for each team. Car chiefs, road mechanics and pit crews will remain with their originally assigned teams.