NASCAR Cup Series

Truex gets new crew chief in Chad Johnston

Published Jun. 7, 2011 7:16 p.m. ET

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Martin Truex Jr. will have a new crew chief beginning this weekend at Pocono Raceway.

Lead engineer Chad Johnston was selected Tuesday as crew chief for Truex's No. 56 Toyota. He replaces Pat Tryson, who was reassigned to another position at Michael Waltrip Racing.

Tryson announced right before the start of the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup championship that he was leaving driver Kurt Busch and Penske Racing at the end of the year to move to MWR to crew chief Truex.

But Tryson was never able to create the same success with Truex, who goes into Sunday's race ranked 21st in the Sprint Cup standings with just three top-10 finishes this year. Truex was 22nd in points last year, with only one top-five.

Frustrations got the best of Truex last month at Richmond, when he angrily fired his crew over his team radio following a botched final pit stop at Richmond. That led to changes on his over-the-wall team the next week. Now Tryson is out, replaced by the 31-year-old Johnston.

Johnston joined the team midway through last season, and Truex said he's provided important help in setting up his Toyotas.

''He's shown a lot of leadership in his position and has shown me he really understands a race car,'' Truex said in a statement. ''He also understands all of the tools at his disposal here at Michael Waltrip Racing since he's an engineer. His personality and mine mesh really well. We get along great, and he really understands what I am saying.

''He is extremely good at pulling more information from me to get the answers to questions he has when setting up the car. The communication between he and I is impressive, and we just click. I'm looking forward to what all we can accomplish together as a team.''