Tony Stewart will have a different crew chief in 2016
Tony Stewart’s final Sprint Cup Series season will include a new crew chief.
Chip Ganassi Racing announced that Chad Johnston would become Kyle Larson’s crew chief in 2016. Johnston has been Stewart’s crew chief for the past two seasons. He replaces Chris Heroy at Ganassi.
“I am very excited for the opportunity to be joining Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, and the opportunity to work with Kyle Larson,” Johnston said in a statement. “The organization has a great reputation in numerous forms of racing, and I’m looking forward to adding to that reputation in NASCAR. Kyle is certainly a unique talent, and I’m eager to get to work with him and the team as we look to build a foundation of success.”
Johnston and Stewart didn’t win any races together in 2014 and 2015, the three-time champion’s two worst seasons in the Cup Series. Stewart’s average finish has fallen for five straight seasons. In 2014 his average finish was 20th and after finishing 29th in Sunday’s race at Homestead, his 2015 average finish was 25th. He has 10 top 10 finishes over the past two seasons.
Stewart announced earlier in 2015 that he would retire following the 2016 season. He’ll be replaced in the No. 14 car by Clint Bowyer, who is spending the 2016 season at HScott Motorsports. HScott has a technical alliance with Stewart-Haas Racing.
According to Motorsport.com, Stewart’s new crew chief will be Mike Bugarewicz. He will be Stewart’s fourth crew chief in six seasons. Darian Grubb parted ways with the team after the 2011 Sprint Cup title. Steve Addington served as Stewart’s crew chief for two seasons before Johnston arrived.
Bugarewicz has served as the engineer for Kevin Harvick for the past two seasons at Stewart-Haas Racing. The site also reported that Daniel Knost wouldn’t be Danica Patrick’s crew chief in 2016. While Harvick and Kurt Busch both won races and made the Chase, Patrick and Stewart struggled. Stewart finished 28th in the points standings while Patrick was 24th. Billy Scott, the crew chief of the No. 55 at Michael Waltrip Racing in 2015, will reportedly take over Patrick’s car.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
