Joe Gibbs on JGR crew chiefs: Everything on hold for now
NASCAR team owner Joe Gibbs told FOXSports.com Saturday that he his holding off on planned crew chief changes with his Sprint Cup team while his drivers battle for the championship and the team finalizes its NASCAR Nationwide Series sponsorship deals for next year.
The hot rumor in the garage area is that Kyle Busch's crew chief, Dave Rogers, will become JGR's competition director next year, with Adam Stevens moving to Busch's Cup car from the Nationwide Series. Likewise, Darian Grubb is thought to be in line to move from Denny Hamlin's Cup car to the new fourth JGR Cup car with Carl Edwards for next year.
But Gibbs said Saturday those plans are not final yet.
"Our biggest concern is, we want to do everything at once," said Gibbs. "We've got a lot up in the air on the Nationwide side, still. And so, I think as soon as we get that settled down, we can kind of make an announcement."
Typically, major Sprint Cup primary sponsorship deals are three years or so in duration. But on the Nationwide side, the deals are usually only one year at a time, and often not wrapped up until late January or early February, right before the racing season starts.
Additionally JGR has all three of its Sprint Cup drivers in the top seven in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup heading into Saturday night's Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Gibbs said he doesn't want distractions with the championship still to be settled.
"Of course, the other thing for us right now is it's all Chase," said Gibbs. "We don't need any more announcements, we just need to run good in the Chase."
