Casey, Meet Darian
I wasn’t quite expecting this announcement yesterday! Not to say I’m disappointed, just a bit surprised, mostly due to timing. Casey now has a new crew chief – Darian Grubb. The same Darian that guided Jimmie Johnson to his first Daytona 500 victory as well as four top 10s in the first four races, including another win at Vegas, while Chad Knaus was suspended. Should I be kicking up my heels in joy? Well…yes and no.
It certainly is exciting because Darian got a lot of good press during his short but productive tenure as Jimmie’s crew chief, and he seems to be a great candidate for a full-time position. But let’s not forget that while NASCAR can suspend someone from the track, they can’t exactly forbid him to stay out of the shop. No doubt Chad was in the shop every day and on the cell phone every chance he could get while the 48 team was at the track, working that Chad magic on the Lowe’s machine. However, racing is a team sport. It’s very unlikely that Darian has little talent, since crew chief calls can be so vital during a race, and that gives me comfort to know he’s got what it takes to end up in Victory Lane with Casey some day.
I’m also a little worried that this move may put a lot of added pressure on Casey to get a victory quickly, especially at Daytona. I imagine it might be encouraging as well as intimidating to be paired with a Daytona 500 champion crew chief while you haven’t won a Cup race yet. Casey is a very underrated drafter and he has all the skill to win at Daytona, but I hope his fans don’t feel like he has to win or run incredibly well because Darian is last year’s 500 defender.
Either way, CJ will be going for it!
It certainly is exciting because Darian got a lot of good press during his short but productive tenure as Jimmie’s crew chief, and he seems to be a great candidate for a full-time position. But let’s not forget that while NASCAR can suspend someone from the track, they can’t exactly forbid him to stay out of the shop. No doubt Chad was in the shop every day and on the cell phone every chance he could get while the 48 team was at the track, working that Chad magic on the Lowe’s machine. However, racing is a team sport. It’s very unlikely that Darian has little talent, since crew chief calls can be so vital during a race, and that gives me comfort to know he’s got what it takes to end up in Victory Lane with Casey some day.
I’m also a little worried that this move may put a lot of added pressure on Casey to get a victory quickly, especially at Daytona. I imagine it might be encouraging as well as intimidating to be paired with a Daytona 500 champion crew chief while you haven’t won a Cup race yet. Casey is a very underrated drafter and he has all the skill to win at Daytona, but I hope his fans don’t feel like he has to win or run incredibly well because Darian is last year’s 500 defender.
Either way, CJ will be going for it!
