They’re preparing to shuffle the crew chief deck at Joe Gibbs Racing. Multiple sources say Kyle Busch and longtime crew chief Dave Rogers will end their long-running association at season’s end, as part of a multi-divisional realignment involving both JGR and Kyle Busch Motorsports. While Rogers’ departure from the #18 team was announced in-house on Tuesday of this week, no one from JGR has commented publically on the move. Sources close to the team say Adam Stevens will move from JGR’s Nationwide Series operation to replace Rogers atop the #18 pit box. Stevens has gone to Victory Lane five times this season with Busch, and is the obvious heir-apparent to Rogers. Stevens will be replaced in the Nationwide Series garage by Eric Phillips, who has served as crew chief on the #51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Camping World Truck Series entry. Under his guidance, the team has won eight times in 17 starts this season with Busch (six wins) and Erik Jones (two wins). He won the Truck Series owner’s championship for KBM a year ago and is solidly in the running to defend that title this season.(Godfather Motorsports).(10-3-2014)
UPDATE: The all-time wins leader among crew chiefs in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series history is heading for a new home. Kyle Busch Motorsports crew chief Eric Phillips, who has earned 36 victories in the Truck Series (21 of them working with Busch himself), told Sirius XM NASCAR Radio on Monday that he’ll be going to Joe Gibbs Racing at season’s end to work in an as-of-now undefined position. Phillips served as crew chief for NASCAR on NBC analyst Parker Kligerman in KBM’s Nationwide Series program last year. When KBM was forced to shut that program down and focus solely on its two-team program in the Truck Series, Phillips said he was asked by Busch to help on the latter effort. While wanting to continue on the Nationwide circuit, he ultimately decided to stay with the KBM Truck team to take care of, in his words, ‘unfinished business.’ He feels that has been accomplished, and with two races remaining on the 2014 Truck schedule, Phillips intends to focus on finishing his tenure with KBM strong.(NBC Sports).(11-4-2014)
