Matt Kenseth will have Jason Ratcliff as his crew chief again in 2015. The rest of Joe Gibbs Racing’s driver/crew chief combinations will change.
Most notable will be the promotion of Adam Stevens from the No. 54 Xfinity Series team to the role of Kyle Busch’s crew chief in the Cup Series.
Busch’s former crew chief Dave Rodgers will slide over to the No. 11 car driven by Denny Hamlin while Darian Grubb joins the newly formed No. 19 team which will feature driver Carl Edwards.
The Xfinity Series will also have new lineups. Eric Phillips will crew chief the No. 18 driven by Daniel Suarez. Chris Gayle assumes that role with the No. 54 car with Mike Wheeler taking over those duties for the No. 20 car.
“With the expansion of our NASCAR Sprint Cup Series operations to four teams next year with the addition of Carl Edwards, we have been able to take a step back and evaluate each of our teams and make decisions that we feel are best for our organization long term,” said J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing. “Like Jason and Dave previously, Adam (Stevens) has clearly proven that he is ready to move into the Cup Series and we feel that his familiarity with Kyle (Busch) provides the opportunity for us to make that move now. We think pairing Dave (Rogers) with Denny (Hamlin) and Darian (Grubb) with Carl (Edwards) will also make each team stronger heading into next season. Jason (Ratcliff) and Matt (Kenseth) came together quickly and we felt it was in the best interest of the 20 team to keep it as is.”
