Petty Changes: New crew chiefs were named for two Petty Enterprises NASCAR Winston Cup cars, CEO Kyle Petty announced today. Brandon Thomas has been named crew chief for the #43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge of driver John Andretti, while Greg Steadman moved from that team to become crew chief for the #44 Georgia-Pacific Dodge of driver Steve Grissom. Bryant Frazier will shift into the role of car chief for the #44. Thomas, a mechanical engineering graduate of Virginia Tech University, has been most recently with Joe Gibbs Racing. From 1999-2001, he was at Penske Racing South working on the #2 car. While at Penske, Thomas worked closely with Robin Pemberton, Petty Enterprises’ Vice President and General Manager. “Brandon and I worked well together at Penske” said Pemberton. “I’ve seen him with a lot of racers, and he will fit in great with our people. His race experience and background will be a big plus for Petty Enterprises.” “This is just another step in continuing our progress at Petty Enterprises,” said Petty. “If we take the good people that we have, like Greg Steadman and Bryant Frazier, and add more quality talents like Brandon Thomas, we keep improving all of our teams. We were fortunate that Joe Gibbs and Jimmy Makar were willing to work with us, as they had Brandon under contract. Coach Gibbs kept asking for a first-round draft choice in 2003 to get the deal done, though,” Petty quipped. The crew changes are effective for this weekend’s race in Pocono.(Williams Company PR)(6-5-2002)
