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Addington is out as Kyle Busch's crew chief
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Published: October 28, 2009
CHARLOTTE - Kyle Busch will have a new crew chief after Sunday's race at Talladega Superspeedway, with Joe Gibbs Racing announcing yesterday that Dave Rogers will replace Steve Addington.
Busch fell eight points shy of a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship because of inconsistency. He had four victories at the Chase cutoff, but he also had 12 finishes outside the top 20.
Addington, who guided Busch to 12 victories in 68 races, will be the crew chief for Sunday's race at Talladega. Rogers, a Nationwide crew chief for JGR, will direct the final three races for Busch as preparation for 2010.
"We evaluate all of our teams on an ongoing basis and believe this is a change that will make the 18 team stronger as we prepare for next season," said J.D. Gibbs, the president of JGR.
Addington, who spent the past five seasons as crew chief of the No. 18, will be reassigned at JGR.
"We think highly of Steve and the job he has done and we look forward to him remaining a part of the JGR family," Gibbs said.
The crew-chief change comes after consecutive top-10 finishes for Busch, including his fourth-place run at Martinsville on Sunday and his best finish since an August win at Bristol.
Rogers is in his fourth season as the crew chief for JGR's No. 20 Nationwide car. He guided that team to JGR's first owner's championship in Nationwide last season, guiding four different drivers to nine wins and 26 top-10s.
Rogers joined JGR in 1998 and spent six seasons working for crew chief Greg Zipadelli on Tony Stewart's team. Rogers was part of Stewart's 2002 championship crew.
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