A shakeup is looming for the Roger Penske operation, with Toyota’s Red Bull team reportedly making a run at crew chief Matt Borland to take the helm of Brian Vickers’ team next season. Borland is #12-Ryan Newman’s crew chief at Penske’s.(Winston Salem Journal)(10-28-2006)
UPDATE: Penske Performance president Tim Cindric would not rule out the possibility of crew chief changes during the offseason, but said rumors that Matt Borland would leave Ryan Newman’s #12 Dodge program for Team Red Bull’s new operation were “just speculation.” “When you don’t have a season you expect to have … there’s always speculation,” Cindric said. “I think we’re going to look at how we are this season and what’s best move going forward to ensure we have better season next year.”(St Petersburg Times)(10-31-2006)
UPDATE 2: Penske Racing South president Don Miller said Sunday that he expects to have crew chiefs Matt Borland (#12-Ryan Newman) and Roy McCauley (#2-Kurt Busch) back next year leading their respective cars. Borland had been rumored to move to a Toyota [Red Bull Racing] team. Miller also said he expects the new nose Dodge teams will get next year should prove to be a big benefit for the team.(Speed Channel)(11-6-2006)
UPDATE 3: however, been told that Borland will not be with the #12 team at Phoenix, supposedly team engineer Mike Nelson will be Newman’s crew chief for the last two races.(11-7-2006)
UPDATE 4: Matt Borland, crew chief for Ryan Newman, will miss the final two races of the 2006 Nextel Cup season. Borland is taking “some personal time off,” and team engineer Mike Nelson will lead Newman’s efforts this weekend at Phoenix and next weekend at Homestead, a Penske Racing South spokesperson said Wednesday.(SceneDaily.com)(11-9-2006)
UPDATE 5: Ryan Newman said Matt Borland, his crew chief his entire Nextel Cup career and the best man at his wedding, “won’t be back next year” in the same capacity. He could return in another role, Newman speculated. Borland was allowed to miss the final two races of the season to attend to personal matters and was replaced on an interim basis by engineer Mike Nelson. “He’s in a position with his two children and wife that they need him to spend more time at home, and that’s way more important than what we do at the racetrack,” Newman said.(St Petersburg Times)(11-11-2006)
