Greg Ives Jr's new crew chief

Glad they didn't have to go through all of the questions during the Chase. Speaking of Chase..... Get ready for the Chase Elliott fan uproar.
 
Initially read this as "Greg Ives Junior's new crew chief," and wondered who this Greg Ives, Jr. was, whether or not I knew his father, and why I should be concerned with his new crew chief.
 
Chase might not be in Nationwide next year anyways...

JK lol I'm just speculating. Seems like a good move, I wasn't worried about Jr getting another crew chief as many of great people that work at HMS.
 

  1. Jeff Gluck ‏@jeff_gluck 1h
    4) Dale Jr doesn’t need a cheerleader if confidence is high. Notes Letarte has done less and less cheerleading of late bc it’s unnecessary.


  2. Jeff Gluck ‏@jeff_gluck 1h
    3) Ives, longtime 48 engineer who already worked w/Knaus, said that 488 shop “feels like it’s my home.”


  3. Jeff Gluck ‏@jeff_gluck 1h
    2) Dale Jr said Ives’ familiarity w/488 shop was “best part.” Said Ives “most talented candidate” who would give “most seamless transition.”


  4. eff Gluck ‏@jeff_gluck 1h
    A few notes from Dale Jr/Ives teleconference. 1) They already have good chemistry. Ives beat Jr in both fantasy football and FF smack talk.
 
I have to admit ives crossed my mind as a great replacement before this happened. I am thrilled at the choice!!!! there are a number of reasons. I really like the culture of the 48 team. look at these guys that chad puts together. These guys are workers they come in with shirts tucked in hair cut there is a reason they win races. Ives was part of this. I like ives because he has been very successful with chase elliott for one. I also like the fact he is not some good ole boy type crew chief like the eury's were. The way you know if a CC is any good is if they have been successful with other drivers AND when they leave are they quickly hired by other teams. Yeah the eury's found other work but it was at cut rate teams infact I think both are working for a late model chassis builder somewhere rather than even in nascar anymore. Same thing with lance mcgrew, he has bounced around but has never sniffed a cup CC job again. Pete rondeau same thing. I think dale jr realizes its best to have rick make the choice. We know tony jr was dale's choice to bring over I also think dale jr wanted lance mcgrew. I think ives will be of a similar mold of knaus. which IMO is an awesome thing. I think there is a very good possiblity that ives could be even quite a bit better CC than latarte.
 
@SteveLetarte

@SteveLetarte Very happy for Greg Ives. Great guy who deserves this shot. I feel he and @DaleJr will be great leadership for the 88 team.

Oh yea and #JRNation be nice to the new guy. He is a good one. Don't worry Greg they are a nice group..... Most of the time.
 
I'm still disappointed that Letarte is leaving, but I'm cautiously optimistic about Greg Ives replacing him. We'll see what he and Junior can do together.
 
hidesert cowboy said:
I have to admit ives crossed my mind as a great replacement before this happened. I am thrilled at the choice!!!! there are a number of reasons. I really like the culture of the 48 team. look at these guys that chad puts together. These guys are workers they come in with shirts tucked in hair cut there is a reason they win races. Ives was part of this. I like ives because he has been very successful with chase elliott for one. I also like the fact he is not some good ole boy type crew chief like the eury's were. The way you know if a CC is any good is if they have been successful with other drivers AND when they leave are they quickly hired by other teams. Yeah the eury's found other work but it was at cut rate teams infact I think both are working for a late model chassis builder somewhere rather than even in nascar anymore. Same thing with lance mcgrew, he has bounced around but has never sniffed a cup CC job again. Pete rondeau same thing. I think dale jr realizes its best to have rick make the choice. We know tony jr was dale's choice to bring over I also think dale jr wanted lance mcgrew. I think ives will be of a similar mold of knaus. which IMO is an awesome thing. I think there is a very good possiblity that ives could be even quite a bit better CC than latarte.
Click to expand...
You just have the trained eye for everything, dont you? :rolleyes:
 
Well, I am not too happy about this. Ives/Elliott seemed to be working well together. I sure dont blame him for taking a promotion but something like a crew chief change can be terrible for a driver.
 
Crew chief Greg Ives may be leaving Chase Elliott's team after this season to move up to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, but Dale Earnhardt Jr. has no concerns about the future of his NASCAR Nationwide Series phenom.

"Mr. Hendrick has a great plan for Chase going forward that we all believe in, and those particulars will be filtering out and announced whenever they're ready to be announced. But now's not the time," Earnhardt said Wednesday, referring to Rick Hendrick, with whom he and sister Kelley Earnhardt Miller co-own the JR Motorsports Nationwide Series team where Elliott currently competes.

"But we definitely have a lot of things that we're very, very excited about for Chase. We feel like he's got a great opportunity, not only in (2015) to have a great, successful season with whomever's his crew chief, but also this year with Greg and what they have remaining this year. I'm excited to get that information out there, and will do that when the time comes."

Read the rest here.
 
No question that Ives has the credentials but he had better get his Dr. Phil game on to make this work.
 
@MikeDavis88

Greg Ives is now officially on Twitter, and his account is @Ives_Greg. Welcome to the madness, Greg.
 
  • You know i'm a Junior fan but I think the pressure is more on him than Ive's to be awesome next season. Chase Elliott proved he was a d@mn good driver well before he was hired to drive for Jr Motorsports so Ive's IMO has made an impact yes, but a slight one. Chase probably could've been good with just about anyone leading that team. Junior is at an age now where (don't get mad at me for going back into the pet cemetery once again & kicking the dead horses carcass) when Sr was the age that Jr is now he was winning championship's #4 & 5. Now then, IMO the days of older drivers winning championships is comming to a close, I don't really see Jeff & Tony winning another title. Jimmie is in his late 30's & Matt Kenseth is as well. These young guys are hungry & they're comming fast meaning Jr's chances are quickly running out. I think the oldest driver to win a Championship was Bobby Allison back in 1983 at age 45 or so & I think we can all agree that Bobby was a much better driver back then than Jr is now. This new format is going to work against Jr as well, more than likely a driver who wasn't that great during the regular season may end up lucking into the title. Jr needed to win a title during the Winston era, it would be better for him I think if he could just get the points lead early in the season & then protect it to the end. We'll see what happens but i'm not going to hold my breath this season or next.
 
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I agree with drivers over 40, its not that 40 is the number for everyone but a few years beyond that everyones body just changes. That is how old I am right now and I can tell you if I was a race driver it would effect me and that small difference is all it takes to not be competitive.
 
This is a great strategic move by Jr. Forcing LeTarte out so he could grab Ives away from Chase will make it much harder for Chase to show him up in cup once they dump Kasey.
 
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