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Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Chase for the Sprint Cup, Crew Chiefs, Sprint Cup, Hendrick Motorsports, NASCAR

Hendrick Motorsports may have won its fifth-straight championship just last Sunday, but it took only a matter of days for the organization to make some of its biggest changes in years.

"This will improve us as an organization, across the board," team owner Rick Hendrick (right) said Tuesday.

Save for champion Jimmie Johnson, each of the three other drivers in the Hendrick stable will have new crew chiefs for the 2011 season.

Steve Letarte, the crew chief on Jeff Gordon's No. 24 since the end of the 2005 season, will now oversee Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s No. 88 team. Meanwhile, Gordon will now have Alan Gustafson managing his team in Daytona.

Gustafson leaves the No. 5 team and driver Mark Martin, who will now have Lance McGrew in his ear for the 2011 season. McGrew has spent part of 2009 and all of 2010 as Earnhardt Jr.'s crew chief.

 

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Filed under: Jeff Gordon, Sprint Cup, Hendrick Motorsports, NASCAR

LONG POND, Pa. (AP) -- Hendrick Motorsports has signed Jeff Gordon crew chief Steve Letarte to a multiyear extension.

Letarte has been with Gordon since the end of the 2005 season. Gordon has 10 wins, 14 poles and leads NASCAR in top-five finishes since they teamed up.

Hendrick announced the decision Friday before practice at Pocono Raceway.

Gordon has a new spotter for Sunday's race after Hendrick hired Jeff Dickerson this week to replace Shannon McGlamery.

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