Tony Gibson is keeping the band together – but that might not include Danica Patrick. For more than a dozen seasons, the veteran crew chief has been supported by the same cast of racers that were assembled at Dale Earnhardt Inc. – and have survived through driver and ownership changes.
Gibson has been at Stewart-Haas Racing since the beginning. Although he was originally assigned to Ryan Newman and the #39 team, Gibson was named crew chief for Patrick in her penultimate race of 2012 and has been with her ever since.
While there has been distinct improvement in her second full season in the Sprint Cup Series, rumors circulated last month that Patrick might be shopping for a new crew chief.
“That’s for Stewart-Haas and them to figure out,” Gibson said.
“I told them when I signed up, I’ll do whatever they need me to do – wherever I need to be placed that they think I can do the best job, that’s what I’ll do. I don’t think any of that has been decided as far as I know. I know they’ll work on all that stuff and decide who needs to be placed where, for the best, and what makes the most sense for our company. My deal isn’t for one particular driver. It’s where I can be the most beneficial for the company and that’s kind of where we left it.”
Still, team owner Gene Haas believes that his teams could benefit from restructuring. Despite both #41-Kurt Busch and #4-Kevin Harvick qualifying for Chase and posting four wins between them, he’s not pleased with the results.
“Kurt is a unique driver,” Haas said. “He has a lot of passion for what he does. That kind of driver requires some special members to make it work and I don’t feel we have the right combination. So we’re looking at that and make some changes on that team to make it work better. We’re really not happy. That team should have done better. Kevin Harvick’s team should have done better, too. He’s been fast all year long, seven or eight poles, leading a huge amount of laps, but we haven’t won as many races as we should. So, I think there’s a little bit of evaluation with all the teams, but that’s pretty common.”
