Cementing 2009 as a season to forget for Kyle Busch's No. 18 team, crew chief Steve Addington has been let go as the 18's crew chief, to be replaced by Dave Rogers. Addington will be "reassigned to a position within JGR, which sounds ominous. It's the latest in a head-spinning series of events over two seasons that have sent Kyle Busch pinballing between the top of the standings and out-of-the-Chase disgrace.
Busch spent much of 2008 as the preemptive favorite to unseat then-two-time champion Jimmie Johnson, but as soon as the Chase began, two straight back-of-the-pack finishes doomed his hopes. He entered 2009 with your classic renewed sense of purpose, humbled by the realization that running well in the summertime doesn't translate to running well in the Chase.
But even though he posted as many wins -- four -- as anyone in the regular season, Busch didn't make the Chase, thanks to a wildly inconsistent checkers-or-wreckers style that saw him running as either the favorite or an afterthought. One season of inconsistency from a talented but still young driver is acceptable; two in a row means heads have to roll.
Interestingly, JD Gibbs addressed this exact point after the race Sunday, indicating that a lot of Kyle's problems stem from "confidence" - more specifically, the lack thereof. "As far as the Addington crew piece," Gibbs added, "from our standpoint, we just want to make sure we have the right tools, the right people in the right place at JGR. We think we do; we think we have a great group, [from] crew chiefs to engineers to guys on the shop floor across the whole board." Apparently, though, Addington wasn't the right person in the right place.
Rogers, meanwhile, has spent four seasons crewing the No. 20 on the Nationwide side, and won the Nationwide Owner's championship with nine victories spread across four drivers. He apprenticed under Greg Zipadelli during Tony Stewart's 2002 championship run.
"Dave has proven himself a talented crew chief and we think he will work well with Kyle," Gibbs said in a statement. "We hope that by making the move following this weekend's race at Talladega they can use the final three weeks of this season to begin working on communication and setups for the 2010 season."
As with Dale Earnhardt Jr., we'll now see how much of the 18's problems stemmed from the guy in the box, and how many stemmed from the guy behind the wheel.
JGR Announces Crew Chief Change on No. 18 for Kyle Busch [Joe Gibbs Racing]
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