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New crew chief for Biffle: #16-Greg Erwin will be replaced as the crew chief for Greg Biffle for Sunday's race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The decision was made after Biffle finished 21st in Saturday night's race at Kentucky Speedway to fall to 14th in points, 33 out of the top 10 guaranteed a spot in the Chase. Erwin's replacement is expected to be Matt Puccia, who has been a part of Roush Fenway Racing as a crew chief in the Nationwide and Truck Series. He worked with Paul Menard in the Nationwide Series in 2010. Erwin and Biffle have been together since May of 2007. Biffle is in danger of missing the Chase for the first time since 2007 with only one top five and five top 10s in 18 races.(ESPN)
UPDATE: Matt Puccia will be the crew chief of the #16 3M Sprint Cup team at Roush Fenway Racing effective immediately. Puccia has been with Roush Fenway Racing since the end of 2004 and was most recently assigned to the research and development program. Prior to this season, Puccia was crew chief of the #98 Paul Menard entry throughout the 2010 Nationwide Series season, leading the team to 19 top-10 finishes and fifth place in the point standings. Puccia's first role as crew chief at Roush Fenway came in 2006 with the #50 Camping World Truck Series team. He led the #99 Truck Series entry with driver Erik Darnell to a victory at Michigan in 2008 and finished fourth in the final point standings. In 2009 Puccia made the move to the Nationwide Series as crew chief for a partial schedule with Menard before the team raced full time in 2010.
"Matt Puccia has been a very effective and successful crew chief with the organization in both the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series," said team owner Jack Roush. "Most recently he has led the research and development efforts for our superspeedway program which helped put David Ragan in victory lane in Daytona. This is a natural progression of our crew chief development and I have every confidence that he will do well in this new role. Greg Erwin has made a significant contribution to our engineering efforts and our program is better because of him."
"I am excited for the opportunity to work with Matt Puccia," added driver Greg Biffle. "Greg Erwin led this team to the Chase the past three years and I look forward to Matt doing the same." Erwin's role in the organization will be announced at a later date.(Roush Fenway Racing)(7-11-2011)
 
The #16 team had to do something to try and dig out of the hole they've put themselves into.
 
He was in the top ten before the last restart, wasn't the crew chiefs fault. Biffle may need a change of scenery, he hasn't been a factor for a couple of years now.
 
chromehorn said:
He was in the top ten before the last restart, wasn't the crew chiefs fault. Biffle may need a change of scenery, he hasn't been a factor for a couple of years now.
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yeah, sometimes changes are needed...you into the same old routine with a team and need something different...
 
IMO, Biffle and Burton are done as regular chase qualifiers. Tony's time is coming to an end too. Guys like Logano, Ragan and possibly Keselowski will displace them this year or next.
 
FenderBumper said:
IMO, Biffle and Burton are done as regular chase qualifiers. Tony's time is coming to an end too. Guys like Logano, Ragan and possibly Keselowski will displace them this year or next.
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I got to disagree with you on Biffle. He can still roll with the best of them but it always seems his car is rarely good at the beginning of a race and the team uses the entire race to get it right, usually it's too late by the time the get it. How about that. I just debunked my own theory from the earlier post, the crew chief does need to go after all.
 
Lets start silly season, what seats are open for Biffle to fill in?
 
chromehorn said:
I got to disagree with you on Biffle. He can still roll with the best of them but it always seems his car is rarely good at the beginning of a race and the team uses the entire race to get it right, usually it's too late by the time the get it. How about that. I just debunked my own theory from the earlier post, the crew chief does need to go after all.
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That's why I think he has lost it. He doesn't seem to be able to get the car dialed in during practice. Carl is fast. Matt is fast. I really like Greg, but he's 42 and slipping.
 
FenderBumper said:
IMO, Biffle and Burton are done as regular chase qualifiers. Tony's time is coming to an end too. Guys like Logano, Ragan and possibly Keselowski will displace them this year or next.
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Just my two cents, but I was of the opinion that the double file restarts would hurt Burton and Mark Martin. It doesn't suit their style, they like long runs imo. Age is factor too.
 
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