Roush shuffles crew chiefs; Osborne to No. 26
By Marty Smith, NASCAR.COM
April 13, 2006
03:51 PM EDT (19:51 GMT)


Roush Racing sources told NASCAR.COM on Thursday that two of its Nextel Cup teams will have new crew chiefs at Phoenix next week.

Bob Osborne will assume crew chief duties for the No. 26 team and driver Jamie McMurray.

Osborne moves from the No. 99 car, where he helped Carl Edwards to a third-place finish in the point standings last year.

Roush Racing's lead engineer, Wally Rogers, will take over the No. 99 team. Rogers also has been a crew chief in the Busch Series with Kevin Harvick Inc.

Jimmy Fennig, who was the crew chief for McMurray, now will head Roush's Busch Series program. Fennig was the crew chief for Kurt Busch when he won the 2004 Nextel Cup championship.

However, Busch was released from his contract last year to sign with Penske Racing South, opening the door for McMurray to leave Chip Ganassi Racing and join Roush.

After placing five cars in the Chase last year, Roush Racing has endured a rough start through seven races this season. In 35 combined starts, the organization -- which also fields cars for Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin and Greg Biffle -- has one win, seven top-five finishes and 15 top-10s.

Last year the Roush stable totaled 15 wins, 61 top-five finishes and 93 top 10s in 180 starts.

Kenseth, the 2003 Cup champion, currently is second in points, 15 behind Jimmie Johnson. Martin is fourth, 46 points behind.

Kenseth has Roush's only win this year, at Fontana.

McMurray, Edwards and Biffle are 21st-23rd, no closer than 388 points behind; Edwards and Biffle currently are outside the 400-point barrier that is used for the cutoff to determine the field for the season-ending, 10-race Chase for the Cup.

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