Kansas City, KS (Sports Network) - Stewart-Haas Racing is restructuring its
team lineup for drivers Ryan Newman and Danica Patrick in the Sprint Cup
Series, beginning with next week's race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
Crew chief Tony Gibson will switch from Ryan Newman's No. 39 team to Danica
Patrick's No. 10 team. Patrick is competing in this weekend's Sprint Cup race
at Kansas Speedway. She is scheduled for just two more Cup events after Kansas
-- Nov. 4 at Texas Motor Speedway and Nov. 11 at Phoenix International
Raceway.
Patrick is expected to run a full schedule in Sprint Cup next season.
Matt Borland will return to the role of crew chief when he moves over to
Newman's team after Kansas. Gibson currently serves as vice president of
competition for SHR.
Steve Addington remains in the crew chief role for Tony Stewart's No. 14 team.
Stewart is one of the 12 drivers in this year's Chase for the Sprint Cup
championship.
"We have a lot of talented people at Stewart-Haas Racing, and as we grow, it's
important to place people in the proper roles to get the best out of
everyone," SHR competition director Greg Zipadelli said. "Tony Gibson has been
with Stewart-Haas Racing from the beginning and knows what it takes to build a
team. His experience will be crucial to developing the No. 10 team and Danica,
and the rapport he already has with Matt Borland and Steve Addington will make
the communication between all three of our teams seamless."
Borland served as Newman's crew chief at Penske Racing from 2002-06, earning
12 wins and 37 poles.
"Matt Borland has had great success as a crew chief, and much of it came when
he and Ryan Newman worked together," Zipadelli added. "Matt and Ryan both have
engineering backgrounds, and they have similar mindsets. It's a pairing that
produced some very good results, and there's no reason why it can't produce
similar results now that they're back together. Their four races together this
year will position them very well for 2013."
The Sports Network