Crew Chiefs swap cars at HMS

#3
#3
I also found it interesting that the 48 and 24 shop split up to be the 48 and 88 shop. The 24 and 5 are now paired together.
 
#4
#4
Not really surprising. Gordon definately gets the best deal. Not sure about Martin and McGrew. Letarte's career is over.
 
#5
#5
TheSyxxSynse said:
Not really surprising. Gordon definately gets the best deal. Not sure about Martin and McGrew. Letarte's career is over.
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Rick Hendrick: "Steve, I'm movin' you to the 88 car to work with Dale Jr."

Steve Latarte: "Noooooo!!!!!!!!"
 
#6
#6
Interesting. I'm an 88 fan, but why potentially mess up everything by doing this. It won't destroy the 48(nothing will) but the other two teams could face problems over this. Hope it works for the best though, but it's wishful thinking.
 
#7
#7
TennesseeFan07 said:
Interesting. I'm an 88 fan, but why potentially mess up everything by doing this. It won't destroy the 48(nothing will) but the other two teams could face problems over this. Hope it works for the best though, but it's wishful thinking.
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The winner in all of this is Jeff Gordon and the loser is Steve Letarte, imo.

I guess the 48 will keep the old 24 crew that took over after Texas and Jeff will get Martin's crew. That would give Dale Jr. the 48 pre-Texas pit crew unless they hire some new people or only the chiefs are moving.
 
#8
#8
I have a feeling Gordon is behind all these moves. He sees Jimmie winning everything and wants another shot at a championship. He knows he can't break up the 48 team so the next best thing is to take Mark Martin's team.

I would hope they go all out for Mark Martin's final season but it looks like he'll have to do it with Jr.'s old team while it doesn't really matter what you do with the 88. I think everyone has figured out that Dale Jr. wouldn't win anything if he drove the Lowes 48 car.
 
#10
#10
TennesseeFan07 said:
Interesting. I'm an 88 fan, but why potentially mess up everything by doing this. It won't destroy the 48(nothing will) but the other two teams could face problems over this. Hope it works for the best though, but it's wishful thinking.
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Actually, every HMS team except the 48 struggled in 2010. Gordon had one of his worst seasons ever, Martin struggled after the success in 2009, and Dale Jr...well...he just had a regular season. Change could be a good thing for the 5 and 24. But even President Obama couldn't give enough change to help the 88. The only thing that would make the 88 competitive again is replace the driver.
 
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#11
#11
As a die hard Mark Martin fan I'm extremely pissed at Rick right now. He had a championship contending team with the 5 team at the close of 2009; the same team that just won five races, scored 14 top fives, 21 top tens, and 7 poles, and one that finished 2nd in the points. What does Rick do? He turns around at the close of 2009 and swaps the 5/88 teams around to try and help Dale, and in the process destroyed a championship caliber team. We saw how it hurt the 5 team early on in the season this year. Gustafson and Mark were finally starting to get it turned around as the season turned to a close and what does Rick do again? Swaps the teams around again.

Mark gets screwed out of a great crew chief and gets left with an absolutely joke of CC. I swear I like Rick for giving him a ride but my goodness treat one of the most respected drivers in the series with a little more respect would ya? I was hoping Mark would go out with a championship in his final year for HMS but that doesn't appear to be the case.

If you can't tell I'm pissed.
 
#12
#12
what was Martin's problem this year? He ran well at the end of the year but he was consistently average.
 
#13
#13
Burhead said:
As a die hard Mark Martin fan I'm extremely pissed at Rick right now. He had a championship contending team with the 5 team at the close of 2009; the same team that just won five races, scored 14 top fives, 21 top tens, and 7 poles, and one that finished 2nd in the points. What does Rick do? He turns around at the close of 2009 and swaps the 5/88 teams around to try and help Dale, and in the process destroyed a championship caliber team. We saw how it hurt the 5 team early on in the season this year. Gustafson and Mark were finally starting to get it turned around as the season turned to a close and what does Rick do again? Swaps the teams around again.

Mark gets screwed out of a great crew chief and gets left with an absolutely joke of CC. I swear I like Rick for giving him a ride but my goodness treat one of the most respected drivers in the series with a little more respect would ya? I was hoping Mark would go out with a championship in his final year for HMS but that doesn't appear to be the case.

If you can't tell I'm pissed.
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As a fellow diehard Martin fan, I was pissed too after the 5/88 crew swap. It killed anything good Mark had going and of course sending championship caliber members to the 88 was cancerous. Besides, Hendrick doesn't care. Mark is just keeping the seat warm for Kahne anyway.
 
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#14
#14
VOLNBAMA said:
what was Martin's problem this year? He ran well at the end of the year but he was consistently average.
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After Martin's great year in 2009, Hendrick decided to give some of Mark's championship caliber members to the lost cause. Because of this, Martin struggled and, of course, Jr. showed no improvement. But hey, we've got to do whatever it takes to make Little E's fans happy right? If we don't, they'll stop buying t-shirts.
 
#18
#18
TennesseeFan07 said:
Why not fire McGrew and put Malec on a pit box somewhere?
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I think moving McGrew over to the 5 clears the way for Kasey Kahne to bring Kenny Francis with him when he moves there in 2012, allowing McGrew to go back to working in house like he was before. jmo.
 
#21
#21
How so?

He was great filling in for Knaus. The results speak for themselves about his chemistry with Tony.
 
#22
#22
Continue to carry the water for Knaus or call the shots from atop the pit box of a 2-time champion?

Yeah, huge mistake.
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#23
#23
TennesseeFan07 said:
Grubb eventually got out of the direct Hendrick family. That was a mistake.
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Darian Grubb didn't want to be a crew chief for a long time, he said as much. He changed his mind when the opportunity to work with Tony Stewart came open. There's probably a lot of crew chiefs that would love to work with Tony. The guy makes their job easier through his talent as a driver and also his knowledge of what the car is doing.
 
#24
#24
toyotaboy said:
I think moving McGrew over to the 5 clears the way for Kasey Kahne to bring Kenny Francis with him when he moves there in 2012, allowing McGrew to go back to working in house like he was before. jmo.
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I agree, Kenny Francis is going to the 83 next year and I believe he will be on the 5 when Kahne arrives. Lance McGrew, much like Brian Whitesell, is a guy that will move around where Hendrick needs him so I see him back in the shop.
 
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