Ranking the 10 Best Crew Chiefs in the Sprint Cup Chase
You know the old saying...behind every great driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, there is an even greater crew chief.
While the driver must make all the moves on the track, and that obviously takes rare and considerable talent, the car underneath him and the crew around him is only as good as the crew chief can make it. If the crew chief can't get the car right at the shop and then make the proper adjustments in practices and the race itself, then a driver, no matter how talented, is likely to struggle.
Same with the pit crews. It is the crew chief who ultimately is held responsible for their performance—or lack thereof.
In the end, the driver always is going to get the lion's share of the glory if a race or a season works out, and the crew chief is likely to get most of the blame, and perhaps his walking papers, if it doesn't. That's just the way it is.
Larry McReynolds, a former crew chief who now is a television analyst for FOX Sports, has long been fond of saying that he knows how hard it is to win races at any level because as a Cup crew chief he won 23 races—and lost 447.
With that in mind, who are the best Sprint Cup crew chiefs as the Chase for the Sprint Cup is about to commence this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway? Who communicates best with his driver and can make the most astute pit calls and adjustments on the car throughout a race weekend? Who's best under the pressure, which will come to bear during the 10-race Chase?
You might think you know. Read on to find out if you do.
10. Dave Rogers
1 of 10
Past Chase Success: This is the fourth time in five full-time seasons as Kyle Busch's crew chief that Dave Rogers has helped guide the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team into the Chase. But the Busch-Rogers duo has never finished higher than fourth.
What Makes Him Great: Rogers is solid in making calls during the race and making sure Busch has fast race cars to drive. But his greatest value may be in how he tirelessly presses Busch to handle adversity like a pro.
It's a battle he doesn't always win and ultimately maybe he never will, but he continues to attempt to defuse the bad karma, such as when the pair recently exchanged harsh words over the team radio at Bristol (per FOXSports.com's Jay Pennell). The key, then, is to build on the successes they've had while winning 13 Cup races together over the years, including one this season at Auto Club Speedway.
Predicting His Impact on 2014 Success: It's sad to say but with the JGR Toyotas seemingly lacking the speed to keep up with the Hendrick Motorsports and Team Penske cars this year, there is only so much Rogers can do as a crew chief to close the gap. And if it's another dismal Chase for Busch, it's not out of the question that these two might part ways at season's end.
9. Kenny Francis
2 of 10
Past Chase Success: This is the fifth Chase Francis has participated in during the nine seasons he has been Kasey Kahne's crew chief. Their best year together was 2012, when Kahne finished fourth. Other than that, they finished eighth in 2006, when Kahne won a career-high six races, and have finished 10th or worse every other time.
What Makes Him Great: Francis is one of those crew chiefs who seems to be able to get Kahne's car really good for stretches at a time. But when the car is off a little, or not to Kahne's liking, the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team sometimes struggles mightily.
The new Chase elimination format might end up suiting them because when their backs are against the proverbial wall—as they were with two races left in the regular season when they put together an incredible clutch performance to win at Atlanta and clinch a Chase berth—that's when they often are at their best.
Predicting His Impact on 2014 Success: This is a driver-crew chief combo that could be a dark-horse contender because Francis has the potential to hit on something that could allow Kahne to go on a roll. Plus, they are playing with Hendrick Motorsports equipment—arguably the best in the business.
8. Rodney Childers
3 of 10
Past Chase Success: This is Childers' first Chase.
What Makes Him Great: Childers is a star in the making among current crew chiefs. He knows how to set up cars, and he knows how to communicate with different drivers to make adjustments that will improve their performances during races. And right from the start this season, his first with driver Kevin Harvick and Stewart-Haas Racing, he seemed to have a special chemistry with Harvick.
The only drawback is that he's also in charge of the pit crew, and they've been nothing short of lousy all season—leading to the decision to swap out what has been the No. 4 SHR pit crew all season for the No. 14 SHR crew that had been pitting Tony Stewart's car.
Predicting His Impact on 2014 Success: Kudos to Childers and SHR for facilitating the change in pit crews. If it plays out the way they hope, Harvick may have just moved from the middle of the pack to a strong contender to make the final four at Homestead.
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7. Jimmy Fennig
4 of 10
Past Chase Success: Fennig is one of only four crew chiefs in this Chase who have previously won championships. (The others are Chad Knaus, Paul Wolfe and Darian Grubb.) In fact, Fennig won the very first Chase as crew chief for Kurt Busch in 2004 when both were employed at Roush Fenway Racing. Fennig is still with RFR, only now in his second season with driver Carl Edwards.
What Makes Him Great: Well, obviously, no other crew chief in the garage has more experience than Fennig, who began his career atop the pit box for a young driver named Mark Martin in 1986 and won the Daytona 500 in 1988 with Hall of Famer Bobby Allison.
He has been crew chief for 40 Sprint Cup wins, which is no small feat. That includes two this season for Edwards, even though he and the driver are going their separate ways after the season (Edwards to Joe Gibbs Racing and Fennig most likely to a new role within RFR, according to FOXSports.com's Jay Pennell).
Predicting His Impact on 2014 Success: Fennig can only do so much. The RFR Fords have been lacking speed on the vital 1.5-mile tracks all season, and that isn't likely to change at this late hour. Even though some astute observers, such as longtime television announcer Mike Joy, have predicted, via FOXSports.com, that Edwards' No. 99 team will make the final eight...others aren't so sure.
6. Darian Grubb
5 of 10
Past Chase Success: Grubb's performance in the 2011 Chase, when he helped Tony Stewart to the title even though he knew Stewart was letting him go at season's end, is the stuff of legend. The Stewart-Grubb combo struggled most of the regular season, but then it caught fire and won five of the 10 Chase races, including the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, to win the championship via a tiebreaker over Carl Edwards.
What Makes Him Great: Grubb's greatest ability appears to be the deftness with which he can adjust to any situation. For instance, his first career victory as a crew chief came when he won the 2006 Daytona 500 with Jimmie Johnson while serving as a substitute for the suspended Chad Knaus.
Later, he guided Casey Mears to Mears' lone Sprint Cup victory in the 2007 Coca-Cola 600. He won the title with Stewart after Stewart had essentially already fired him. And just last year, he quickly adjusted to working with substitute drivers Mark Martin and Brian Vickers when Hamlin suffered a back injury that sidelined Hamlin for four full races and most of a fifth.
Predicting His Impact on 2014 Success: Grubb and Hamlin appear to be doing about the best they can with JGR Toyotas that Hamlin continues to swear are way down on horsepower compared to the heavy hitters at Hendrick and Team Penske.
"We're trying to make the best we can do, down 50 horsepower. We can't just accelerate down the straightaway like them," Hamlin told FOXSports.com after finishing seventh at Michigan recently. So whether or not Grubb can do anything to help close the gap is doubtful at this point of the season, unless he can conjure up some of that ol' 2011 Chase magic.
5. Todd Gordon
6 of 10
Past Chase Success: Gordon is relatively new to this at the Cup level, although he was a longtime crew chief in the Nationwide Series before jumping to Cup with Team Penske atop the pit boxes of AJ Allmendinger and Sam Hornish Jr. in 2012. Last season was his first with Logano and they made the Chase, finishing eighth.
What Makes Him Great: It seems like Gordon is a great fit for Logano, who finally is starting to realize the potential predicted for him when he first broke into Cup at age 18 in 2009. And Gordon said after Logano's third win of the regular season at Bristol recently that the two of them already have sound strategy mapped out for the Chase.
"We’ve got a good plan going forward on how Team Penske is going to test for this Chase," Gordon told the NewsObserver.com's Jim Utter. "Last year let us know what we needed to do and then the success early in the season kind of let the stress level come down." The stress level will be ratcheted up again now, but Gordon seems prepared for it.
Predicting His Impact on 2014 Success: It's hard to say because Gordon lacks Chase experience, but the crew chief and Logano seem to have a calming effect on each other when the going gets tough. It will be no real surprise if their No. 22 Team Penske Ford team is among the final four fighting for the championship in the season finale at Homestead.
4. Alan Gustafson
7 of 10
Past Chase Success: Gustafson began his career as a crew chief in 2005 with Kyle Busch as his driver in the No. 5 Chevy for Hendrick Motorsports, and he made back-to-back Chases with a young Busch in '06 and '07. In 2009, he helped Mark Martin to a runner-up finish. His first full season with Gordon was 2011, when they made the Chase and finished eighth. They were sixth last year.
What Makes Him Great: He was the lead engineer for Busch's No. 5 team before becoming a crew chief, and he's always had a great understanding of what the car can and can't do and how to make adjustments that will have a positive impact during the middle of a race. At first he struggled with his communication and chemistry with Gordon, who can be very particular about what he wants. But now they're really clicking, and it has placed the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy team squarely in contention for this title.
Predicting His Impact on 2014 Success: You know you're working at Hendrick Motorsports when you might be considered the third- or fourth-best crew chief in the entire Sprint Cup garage, but you're not considered the best, and maybe not even the second-best, in your own organization. Gustafson could change that perception by helping Gordon win what would be Gordon's fifth championship—but first since 2001.
3. Steve Letarte
8 of 10
Past Chase Success: Letarte is no stranger to the Chase. He led Jeff Gordon to five consecutive Chase berths from 2006 through 2010 before switching to Earnhardt's No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports team. He helped Gordon to a runner-up finish to Jimmie Johnson in '06 and third in 2009—and has helped Earnhardt make the Chase each of the last four seasons, finishing fifth last year.
What Makes Him Great: It used to be that folks sort of minimized Letarte's skill by singling out his ability to always be upbeat and positive, more or less a tireless cheerleader, as his greatest quality. And it is a commendable one—one that served him well when he first took over as Earnhardt's crew chief.
But he's much more than that. He relates well not only to his driver, but to everyone on the team—because he once was one of them, serving on Gordon's pit crew for all four of Gordon's championships long before he became Gordon's crew chief late in the 2005 season.
Predicting His Impact on 2014 Success: Letarte is leaving at season's end for the NBC-TV broadcast booth, and both he and Earnhardt have made no secret of their dual desire to go out with a bang in memorable fashion. Winning a championship certainly would cover that, although some of the other top teams won't make it easy.
2. Paul Wolfe
9 of 10
Past Chase Success: Wolfe won the Chase with driver Brad Keselowski in 2012, only two years into their Sprint Cup partnership. They made the Chase and finished fifth in their first Cup season together in 2011 but failed to make it last year.
What Makes Him Great: Wolfe, 37, might just be the next Chad Knaus. In fact, he already owns one crew chief distinction that Knaus will never match: After winning the Nationwide Series title with Keselowski in 2010 and then capturing the Sprint Cup title in 2012, he became the first crew chief in NASCAR history to win championships in both series. And he did it all in a span of just three years!
Wolfe's chemistry with Keselowski and their level of communication when it comes to the driver telling the crew chief what adjustments he needs during a race to make the car better, and then having Wolfe actually execute them, is at a level few others can approach.
Predicting His Impact on 2014 Success: Like Knaus, Wolfe may be at his absolute best in a one-race, winner-take-all scenario—and you'd better believe he and Keselowski will be in position to make it to the final four and go head-to-head with the best. While Knaus has a slight edge because of experience, Wolfe could easily help Keselowski and the No. 2 Team Penske Ford achieve its second title in three years.
1. Chad Knaus
10 of 10
Past Chase Success: In 2010, he became the first crew chief to win five consecutive Cup titles. He and driver Jimmie Johnson have never missed a Chase, have won 24 of the 100 Chase races they've competed in and won a sixth title last year.
What Makes Him Great: Knaus and Johnson aren't afraid to disagree, nor to even get a little testy with each other at times over the team radio during a practice or a race. But they never seem to let it carry over or get too personal. Their goals are always the same: to make the race car that Johnson is driving faster, and to get the handling on it to Johnson's liking—or at least to something he can handle.
They are doggedly relentless in these pursuits and never seem to let themselves get sidetracked by anything else in the Chase. Knaus also isn't hesitant to pull the plug on someone in the pit crew whom he believes isn't getting the job done, as evidenced by the entire pit-crew swap he orchestrated with Jeff Gordon's crew late in the Chase en route to the 2010 title.
Predicting His Impact on 2014 Success: Knaus will do what he does, and he will do it well. Despite whatever else has happened this season—and it has been a struggle at times for the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy team—does anyone doubt that Johnson will be one of final four drivers competing for the title in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway? And if so, it will take a brave man to bet against the duo of Johnson-Knaus in a one-race, winner-take-all scenario.
Unless otherwise noted, all information was obtained firsthand.
Joe Menzer has written six books, including two about NASCAR, and now writes about it and other sports for Bleacher Report as well as covering NASCAR as a writer/editor at FOXSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @OneMenz.
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