NASCAR News 2015: Crew Chief Chad Johnston Leaves Tony Stewart, Joins Kyle Larson
Tony Stewart's no. 14 car lost its crew chief after Chad Johnston left to join Kyle Larson. The announcement was made by Chip Ganassi Racing on Monday; which interestingly came into fruition after Tony Stewart hinted a week ago that there will be some changes to his Sprint Cup Series team before his final season.
But the news of Johnston's transfer does not really come as a surprise because of the fact that in his two seasons with Stewart, he didn't really have quite an ideal relationship with the NASCAR driver. During those years, Stewart only managed to finish 25th and 28th in points.
It was later reported by Motorsport.com that stepping in to replace Johnston is former engineer for Kevin Harvick, Mike Bugarewicz, but this one hasn't been officially announced yet. Johnston, meanwhile, will be replaced by Chris Heroy.
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Talking about the changes he mentioned last week, Stewart is quick to add why there's a need for it. "It's not like we were 15th-place car all year. We haven't been even close to that, unfortunately. There's going to have to be a lot of changes," he said.
Johnston's stint with Stewart isn't one of the highlights of his career. He enjoyed success with Martin Truex, Jr., giving the racer a Cup win at Sonoma Raceway, while also guiding him to the Chase during the 2012 edition of the Sprint Cup.
The move to transfer to Chip Ganassi Racing means that Johnston will be assuming the role of crew chief, the first job of which is to kick-start the preparation for next year's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Johnston's inclusion to Larson's team is beneficial to the young racer because he couldn't sustain the successful run he had in 2014. Adding an experience crew chief means that Larson could expect a much better third season in NASCAR by next year.
