Dave Rogers will start the 2016 season as crew chief for the #19 of Carl Edwards after spending a season as the crew chief for #11-Denny Hamlin. The move was part of an announcement a couple of weeks ago that also included the return of Mike Wheeler to the #11. Rogers, appearing on SiriusXM NASCAR radio, said he accepts the move even though it surprised him, especially after Hamlin and all four Joe Gibbs Racing teams made the Chase for the Sprint Cup. “Denny’s a brother to me,” Rogers said. “I love him to death. It caught me off guard, “You want me to work with someone other than Denny?'” Roger has spent the majority of his career with JGR. Before the 2015 season, Rogers worked on the #18 of Kyle Busch for five years. He said the decision to make the move came down to trying to improve the communication and chemistry of a “true four-car team.”
“A couple of years ago we were tough on ourselves,” Roger said. “We openly admitted that we missed the boat on speed, the cars weren’t good enough. We were really tough on each other. The guys at the shop rebounded with such character and integrity. You have to capitalize on those situations. It’s not every year you get cars like that. Some years you’re on. Some years you’re off. Coach and the management staff felt there was room for improvement with the 19 and 11 “¦ and they made some changes. That’s one thing that’s really complicated about JGR, we’re a true four-car team,” Rogers said. “We’re four cars working together. There’s eight race engineers sitting in a cubicle working together. All four crew chiefs sit shoulder-to-shoulder. It’s a huge team. I think we work together more than I believe other teams do and that makes it extremely complicated. There’s a ton of relationships in that that have to be managed.”(In part from NBC Sports / SiriusXM NASCAR radio)(12-30-2015)
