Darian Grubb will stay at Joe Gibbs Racing, may not be with Hamlin
Widely speculated to be parting ways with driver Denny Hamlin after the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, crew chief Darian Grubb on Tuesday would neither confirm or deny if he'll be the crew chief on Hamlin's No. 11 team in 2015.
Grubb did offer one important nugget, however: He will be a crew chief next season at JGR -- he's just not sure who his driver will be.
"We're still working towards winning a championship, and I'm going to be here next year doing the same thing," Grubb said Tuesday on a national teleconference with the Sprint Cup Series' three other championship-contending crew chiefs. "We have had some talks internally about what next year's plans are, but there's nothing that's ready to be announced and/or we're not working towards that for next year, either. I'm sure winning a championship with the team and stuff might have some bearing on some of those discussions and things, as well.
"We're going to wait until Monday after Homestead to even think about that stuff."
Grubb, 39, joined Hamlin's team in 2012 after working as crew chief for Tony Stewart during Stewart's memorable 2011 championship run at Stewart-Haas Racing. In that campaign, Grubb, a former Hendrick Motorsports race engineer, was informed with several weeks left in the season that he would not be retained as Stewart's crew chief the following year.
Despite his lame-duck status, Grubb guided Stewart to five wins in 10 Chase races capped by a victory at Homestead, where Stewart captured the championship over Carl Edwards on a tiebreaker for most wins.
Grubb said Tuesday that his current predicament at JGR doesn't remind him at all of his situation at SHR in 2011.
"I'm not updating any resumes or anything like that," said Grubb, a native of Floyd, Va. "We know we all have jobs. There's security. We all know for a fact that we're going to be working together within this organization, so we're going to go out and try to finish the business at hand first no matter what happens and try to win that trophy at Homestead."
"To me that doesn't matter," Grubb said. "I'm still going to do the same effort and the same work that I do every week regardless of who I'm working for. If it's Denny again next year, we're going to try to win two in a row, and if it's for somebody else, then we're going to try to win together that way, also. It doesn't matter to me.
"I love this sport and I love my job, and I love all the guys that I work with. FedEx Toyota team is my home for now, and that's what I plan to be working hard on."
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