The trend is continuing at JR Motorsports for promoting Hendrick Motorsports’ engineers as crew chiefs. Dave Elenz will be the new crew chief for the #5 JRM Chevy in 2015. He is replacing Ernie Cope, who is taking the place of Greg Ives on the #9 crew with driver Chase Elliott. Ives, the former team engineer for Jimmie Johnson at HMS, was named Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s crew chief for next season. Elenz, a Gaylord Mich.-native who attended Clemson University, moved from the #88 team with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and replaced Ives on the #48 Hendrick team after the 2013 season. Ives spent one year with Regan Smith at JRM before guiding Elliott to the top of the standings this season. Elenz started at Jasper Racing, where he first met JRM competition director Ryan Pemberton. The pair worked together at Ginn Racing and Red Bull Racing prior to Elenz joining the Hendrick Motorsports stable. The #5 team campaigned with Earnhardt, Kevin Harvick and Kasey Kahne this season.(Motorsport), the team is expected to change from the #5 to #88 next season.(11-3-2014)
UPDATE: JR Motorsports announced the additions of Dave Elenz and Jason Burdett to its 2015 crew chief lineup. The two newcomers join veteran Ernie Cope to complete the crew chief roster that JR Motorsports will take into the new NASCAR XFINITY Series season. Elenz will serve as Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s, Kevin Harvick’s, and Kasey Kahne’s crew chief on the multi-driver #88 team (formerly the #5/88 team). Burdett will serve as Regan Smith’s crew chief on the #7 Taxslayer.com team, allowing Ryan Pemberton to return to his original post as the company’s director of competition. Both Elenz and Burdett come to JR Motorsports by way of Hendrick Motorsports. Cope begins his second season at JR Motorsports but will transition to the #9 NAPA AUTO PARTS team and spearhead Chase Elliott’s defense of his 2014 XFINITY Series championship. The upcoming season will be Cope’s 13th as a crew chief. Despite his 14 career victories, this will mark only the second time Cope has been paired with a full-time driver to compete for a championship. Previously an engineer on both the #88 and #48 teams at Hendrick Motorsports, Elenz is a native of Gaylord, Michigan, and graduate of Clemson University. He joined Hendrick Motorsports in 2012 as engineer on Earnhardt Jr.’s #88 team after stints at Jasper Racing (2001-02), Ginn Racing (2003-07) and Red Bull Racing (2009-11). Elenz spent one year on the #88 team before becoming an engineer on Jimmie Johnson’s championship-winning team in 2013. Burdett is a native of Arkport, New York. His 17-year NASCAR career includes eight seasons as a car chief at Hendrick Motorsports for Johnson (2002), Jeff Gordon (2008-10) and Earnhardt Jr. (2011-14). He also was on Dale Jarrett’s teams at Robert Yates Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing, the latter in which he served as Jarrett’s crew chief for a bulk of the 2007 season. Burdett played an integral role in Earnhardt Jr.’s four-win 2014 season, in which the team earned a Daytona 500 victory, a Pocono sweep, and a long-awaited Martinsville win. All three JRM teams will compete in the full 33-race XFINITY Series schedule in 2015. Elliott and Smith will vie for the driver’s championship, while the #88 team will compete for the owner’s championship with multiple drivers. A full schedule of drivers for the #88 team is still being finalized.(JR Motorsports)
