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August 28, 2009
Michael Waltrip Racing Names Gene Nead Interim Crew Chief of the #55
Rumors surfaced this week that when the Cup Series returned to action at Atlanta in two weeks that there would be a new crew chief calling the shots for Michael Waltrip and the #55 team. Yesterday it was confirmed that Robert "Bootie" Barker was being replaced by Gene Nead, who had most recently been a crew chief for Michael McDowell at JTG-Daugherty Racing in the Nationwide Series, and has worked for Robby Gordon Motorsports and Bill Davis Racing among others. Michael has been unhappy for weeks now both with the cars he's been given to race and often with the calls that are made during races. Almost every week he complained bitterly over the radio during races about how terrible the cars were and how the changes that Bootie made never seemed to do anything to improve things. So it was pretty clear that as much as Michael seems to like Bootie on a personal level, things weren't working with Bootie as crew chief.
However, as upset and unhappy as Michael has been I'm still surprised that he got a new crew chief. I figured that given that Michael isn't going to be back full-time next season and the results don't really matter that much beyond making sure the #55 is in the top 35 in owner's points for Martin Truex, Jr. that Michael Waltrip Racing wasn't going to be inclined to make too many changes or put too much resources into the #55 team since they would probably want to do those things after Martin joins the team. But perhaps they were worried that if the results continued to be as poor as they've been that there was some danger of the #55 dropping out of the top 35 or Michael just couldn't stand to struggle as much as he has been.
Contrary to what some believe Michael most definitely does care about the results. If he didn't care anymore he wouldn't get as angry as he has been getting when the car isn't any good and things aren't going well. Michael feels just as much passion and competitive fire as any other driver even in his 25th season in Cup. He loves racing and loves NASCAR. But things have changed from the style in which a lot of the younger drivers race and also with the cars and I think that is contributing to why Michael - and some other drivers - are struggling. Perhaps a new crew chief will be able to set the cars up more to Michael's liking or at least help him adjust a little more to racing the COT if that's an issue. It sure would be great if Michael was able to race competitively and get some good finishes in his last few races as a full-time driver! Hope Gene Nead is the man who helps make that happen!
Posted by silverdsl at August 28, 2009 02:34 PM