Darian Grubb, who guided Tony Stewart to an incredible five-win run to the 2011 Sprint Cup Series title, has agreed to become crew chief for Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin.
Hamlin nearly won the 2010 title but struggled in 2011 with just one victory and a ninth-place finish in the final standings.
Mike Ford, who was crew chief for Hamlin, was released Tuesday, setting the stage for Grubb to take over.
Grubb will begin working to lead Hamlin to a championship just a few weeks after he helped guide team Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner/driver Tony Stewart to the title.
Stewart had decided prior to the Chase that Grubb would not be retained after the season and Grubb was told of the firing with six weeks left in the season.
Grubb said last week he wasn’t exactly sure why he got fired and would spend at least a few days determining whether he wanted to continue as a crew chief or accept an engineering role. Hendrick Motorsports, which employed Grubb before he joined SHR, had offered him a role in its engineering department.
A winner of 14 races in Cup, Grubb will be Hamlin’s second crew chief. Hamlin had been paired with Ford for his entire six-year career in Cup.
At last week’s season-ending banquet, Hamlin indicated he’d be OK with Ford coming back but also that he wouldn’t be surprised with a change.
“There is no certain weak point that I can point out within our race team, they are just kind of there,” Hamlin said. “We really didn’t have many opportunities to win races.
“I really can’t think what races that, ‘Hey, we let that one get out the window.’ We were never really a factor.. It’s frustrating because I expect so much from myself. It’s just one of those years that you just look past and move on from.”
There will be high expectations for Grubb and Hamlin. Stewart cited some missed opportunities in 2011 as one of the reasons he wanted a change.
“There [are] no major flaws with Darian, but there were variables that we felt like we needed to change,” Stewart said last week.
Stewart got his cars from Hendrick Motorsports, which had been grooming Grubb for a crew chief position for years.
This will be the 36-year-old Grubb’s first major job outside of Hendrick. He was a crew chief for a year with Casey Mears and won a race at Charlotte.
“I’ve been lucky enough to be a winner all my years in crew chiefing,” Grubb said. “The four years I’ve done, we’ve won all four years. I’m hoping that means something.”
It obviously meant something to Hamlin and JGR had what Grubb was looking for, and he was going to be a little cautious on just jumping at what might look initially as the best opportunity.
“Sometimes when you’re at the top of the sport, they want to get you in there just to get what you know or how did you do that,” Grubb said. “Or do they really respect for your abilities and what you’ve done?”
