Some of the outstanding pieces in the NASCAR Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series garages were put into their respective puzzle places today with Roush Fenway Racing announcing its crew chief lineup.
Matt Puccia stays put on Greg Biffle’s No. 16 Ford. Meanwhile Bob Osborne, Carl Edwards’ longtime crew chief, will come back to the Cup level after a several-year hiatus since 2012. He’ll join Trevor Bayne’s No. 6 Ford.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. gets a new crew chief for his No. 17 Ford in Nick Sandler, who had been head engineer the last four years under Jimmy Fennig on the RFR No. 99. Mike Kelley continues as that car’s car chief.
Fennig stays on with the team as research and development coordinator, after announcing his semi-retirement from the crew chief role at the end of 2014.
“Bob Osborne is a proven commodity, as evidenced by his 18 wins as a Sprint Cup crew chief,” team owner Jack Roush said in a release. “He will bring a strong veteran presence to the No. 6 AdvoCare team, as Trevor Bayne makes the transition to full-time Sprint Cup racing.
“We have seen proven results with Matt Puccia and Greg Biffle and we will look to continue to build on that moving into 2015,” added Roush. “And we are excited about the elevation of Nick Sandler to crew chief on the No. 17. Nick has a strong engineering background with the company and his time working hand-in-hand with Jimmy Fennig over the past few seasons will prove invaluable as he takes the helm of the No. 17.
Kevin Kidd, who had been the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing crew chief in the NASCAR Nationwide (now XFINITY) Series, is the Sprint Cup team manager for that trio. Mark McArdle serves as the team’s engineering director for both the Cup and XFINITY programs.
In the XFINITY ranks, crew chiefs will be Phil Gould (No. 1, Elliott Sadler), Seth Barbour (No. 16, Ryan Reed), Scott Graves (No. 60, Chris Buescher) and Chad Norris (No. 6, Bubba Wallace). Norris took over as Edwards’ crew chief in 2012 when Osborne left his post midseason for health reasons.