It’s been a big week for change in the NASCAR world. In the span of a few days we’ve had Kelly Bires get replaced at Jr. Motorsports and Kasey Kahne announce his defection from RPM to join Hendrick Motorsports in 2012. And it’s funny, because I heard somebody say early in the week that it was a slow news week because the John Wes Townley story was getting some decent run. Besides the big changes you’ve been hearing about all over the place, this time of year means other changes for teams too.
The changes I’m referring to are those that happen within the teams. When the season starts, many teams have new faces. Sometimes that might mean one or two new guys, and in other cases it means the whole team. But as we get through the first few races of the season, team management expects those new faces, and the old ones, to start having some chemistry.
Let me give you an example. Every pit crew guy knows that he is only as good as his last race. An established guy can go from being comfy in his job, to on the street real quick. It only takes a few missteps on pit road to get the ax. Through the first few races of the season, coaches and crew chiefs understand that there is going to be a bit of a transition period going from the off season to running races every weekend. It will take the pit crews a few races to work out the small kinks and to get really comfortable together. But once we start getting into the fourth, fifth, and sixth races, the important people expect those kinks to get worked out. If they don’t get fixed, heads will roll. We’ve seen a few of these changes across all three series already this year, and its only April.
Pit crew guys aren’t the only ones at risk either. One story this week that didn’t get a ton of attention was Roush Fenway Racing making a crew chief change for young Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Crew chief Ben Leslie was replaced by Mike Kelley, who himself had been replaced by Drew Blickensderfer earlier in the season atop Carl Edwards’ NNS pit box. Leslie will now move into the role of Nationwide Series Competition Director for RFR, the position most recently held by Kelley. If a driver/crew chief combination isn’t working, team owners like Jack Roush are not going to wait long to make a change. There is too much at stake. Especially with a young driver, Roush wants to know if these kids have what it takes to get it done. Pairing Stenhouse with a veteran guy like Kelley should make that picture a little clearer.
As the saying says, the only constant is change. And change is certainly on. Teams are trying to get better every week, and Kahne’s move signals the start of yet another Silly Season.
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