Performance is at a stand-still for drivers like Burton, Biffle and Almendinger.  They have a handful of top 10 finishes between them this year and have been flying under the radar all season. Making a crew chief change is a perfect opportunity for these teams to get the improvements they have been looking for. 

All of these teams have the potential to finish well every week, they are just missing a certain spark to get to those finishes.  Hopefully these changes will provide that spark.

For Truex Jr’s team, I feel that communication is one of the major issues.  With only three top 10 finishes and many DNF’s this season, a change had to be made.  Earlier in the year, the team replaced their tire changers in hopes of improving performance.  Unfortunately, their luck never improved.  The No. 56 team now has Chad Johnson as crew chief, formally the lead engineer of Micheal Waltrip Racing.

This team has nothing to lose and everything to gain.  We know that Truex has the potential to win races, he just needs a strong team backing to get there.  I think this change will take time to settle in, but will eventually bring improvement to that MWR team.

Montoya seems to be the roller-coaster driver of this season.  He started off the year well and was as high as fourth in points.  However, in five races out of the last ten, he has finished 20th or worse and has now plummeted to 17th in points.  In my opinion, the crew chief is not the problem. 

We’ve seen Montoya lose his temper with other drivers and his own team countless times throughout the year.  I feel like his temper gets in the way of focusing on his job.  Maybe his new crew chief, Jim Pohlman, can keep the Colombian driver level-headed.  If not, I think Ganassi needs to address the situation and figure out a solution for Montoya.  He is a talented driver, he just needs to focus on his race, rather than focusing on who he’s going to box after the race.

In conclusion, I don’t think this will be the last crew chief changes of the season.  Drivers like, Brian Vickers and Jamie McMurray are used to running well, and aren’t having the finishes they need.  Possible crew chief changes?  I guess we’ll just have to keep watching as this season unfolds.

The finish dropped Biffle to 14th in points, 33 behind 10th place, and a guaranteed spot in the Chase.

Matt Puccia will replace Erwin as Biffle’s crew chief. Puccia began at RFR in 2004 and most recently worked in their research and development program. Up until this season, he served as crew chief for Paul Menard in the Nationwide Series, leading the No. 98 team to 19 top 10 finishes. The team finished fifth in Nationwide points.

He also served as crew chief for the RFR’s no. 50 Camping World Truck Series team, which was driven by David Ragan and Carl Edwards, among others. He also led Erik Darnell to victory in the No. 99 truck in 2008.

Team owner Jack Roush said:

Matt Puccia has been a very effective and successful crew chief with the organization in both the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series. 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.

Biffle added:

I am excited for the opportunity to work with Matt Puccia. Greg Erwin led this team to the Chase the past three years and I look forward to Matt doing the same.

No word on what Erwin’s new role will be.