Long story short, by the end of the 1998 championship season, Ray was getting burnt out as a crew chief and was starting to think about his next mountain to climb. The Gordon Evernham Mororsports deal was an effort for him to do something where he was in control and call most of the shots, but at the same time. he was becoming more and more irritated at seeing Jeff make ten times (or more) the money he was making, he was tired of people asking whether it was Ray responsible for the team's success, or Jeff and or HMS as an organization. Top that off with Jeff's business manager really pissing Ray off, and the fact that despite the on-track success, Jeff and Ray were starting to snipe at each other quite a bit. Rick wanted Ray to move into a management role at HMS, but Ray wasn't sure that's what he really wanted to do. Meanwhile, Chrysler approached Rick about leaving Chevy and doing the Dodge program. When Rick said no, Dodge approached Ray and Jeff as a pair. This time, Jeff said no, but Ray saw an opportunity and began negotiating with Chrysler. By late summer, it was a done deal except for making the announcement and the parting of the ways. The whole thing kind of blew up into the public when rumors of HMS trying to hire Tommy Baldwin Jr to be Jeff's crew chief leaked out, which also reignited the old Jeff Gordon-Bill Davis hard feelings. By the end of September, it became obvious that Ray finishing out the year at HMS was not going to be possible, so he left, and Brian Whitesell was named the interim crew chief. The team proceeded to win the next two races with Whitesell on the pit box and then named Robbie Loomis the new crew chief over the winter and Whitesell became the team manager. Gordon Evernham Motorsports finished out the 1999 season in the Busch Series, by running Charlotte, where they finished second, and Phoenix, which they won. By that point Jeff made it clear to Ray that he could not be involved in the team with the manufacturer conflict coming up. Ray was NOT happy, especially since Jeff controlled the sponsor (Pepsi). Jeff brought that sponsorship deal back into HMS, and and they fielded a Busch car with Jeff and Ricky Hendrick sharing the seat on a part time schedule. This Busch team laid the groundwork that brought Ricky into team management, Brian Vickers into the organization, and also spawned the team that Gene Haas bought from Rick that turned into SHR.
Chase's laps led were fool's gold because the 19 had to start in rear.
