Blickensderfer and Kenseth have things to prove

Drew Blickensderfer will agaiHeluva Good! Sour Cream Dips Qualifyingn be a crew chief taking over for Mike Kelley as the man on the top of the pit box for the #60 car driven by Carl Edwards in the Nationwide Series.

Blickensderfer had been the crew chief for Matt Kenseth for the 2009 season when the 17 car won the first two races of the season. Following an eighth place finish at Daytona this year the driver of the 17 car asked for a change.

Blickensderfer was then replaced by Todd Parrot and put in limbo until it was announced earlier today that he would return to the Nationwide Series as the crew chief for the 60 car. The same role he held in 2008 when Carl Edwards finished second to Clint Bowyer in the point standings.

Mike Kelley will take over the role of competition driector for the Roush Fenway Nationwide efforts while Mike Beam who held that role will be elecated to sppedway specialist in the research and development department.

In other words a bunch of domino’s have been slid around the board to keep everyone happy and put them in some sort of role in which Jack Roush believes they can have success.

Blickensderfer has a lot to prove now, as anything less then the 60 car being the best of the field will lead to questions about his managing ability. Obviously the competition on the Nationwide side isn’t as tough as it is on the Sprint Cup side so Blickensderfer will need to do more then just be a top 5-10 car.

As for Matt Kenseth he will have to make the chase on the Spring Cup side and find victory lane to avoid people suspecting the problem with the team at the end of the year was the driver. Finding victory lane, making the chase and then avoiding a late season collapse are the three key ingredients in his 2010 run.

John Boarman
John Boarmanhttp://www.tireball.com
Founder and Owner of Tireball Sports.

Recent News

3,411FansLike
1,105FollowersFollow