April 16, 2008


By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has a week off, but that doesn't mean its teams are standing still. Several organizations have made significant moves during the hiatus.

Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates announced Tuesday a swap of crew chiefs Donnie Wingo and Jimmy Elledge. Elledge will call the shots from the pits for Juan Pablo Montoya, and Wingo will move from Montoya's No. 42 Dodge to replace Elledge on the No. 41 Dodge driven by Reed Sorenson.

The move gives the crew chiefs the better part of two weeks to prepare their new teams for the April 27 Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.

"I have a lot of respect for both Donnie and Jimmy and the jobs that they do, and they both agree that this move can be very beneficial to the entire organization," team owner Chip Ganassi said. "I have said all along that I believe us to be a championship organization and that Felix and I will do whatever we can to make us better. This is toward that end."

Sorenson has failed to build on his fifth-place finish in the Daytona 500, having run no better than 18th in the seven races since. In last Saturday's Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix, he posted his worst result of the year, 42nd, and fell to 31st in the Cup points standings.

After running 32nd in the Daytona 500, Montoya has strung together seven straight top-20 finishes but none better than the 13th he achieved at Martinsville. Montoya is 17th in points, 61 behind Ryan Newman in 12th, the last position that will qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup after 26 races.

Swapping crew chiefs in attempt to jump-start both teams isn't unprecedented. Richard Childress has done it twice, once in 1998 in a trade between the teams of Dale Earnhardt and Mike Skinner and again in June 2002, when the entire pit crews of Kevin Harvick and Robby Gordon traded places.

"It's a little bit of a shock but something had to be done. We weren't getting results for whatever reason," said Elledge, whose driver had produced just one top-five result all season. "I think we're going in a much better direction, but I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to deliver the results for Target with the relationship they've had with Chip and the personal relationship I've developed with them since coming to Ganassi Racing six years ago. It's been an honor to be associated with them."

Elledge began working with Casey Mears in 2003. The pair scored back-to-back poles at Pocono Raceway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2005 and posted five top-10 finishes in the final nine races. The following season, Mears finished a career-high 14th in points before moving to Hendrick Motorsports.

Elledge is excited to work with Montoya, who ended Ganassi's five-year losing streak with his victory at the road course in Sonoma last June.

"To have the ability to work with Juan is an honor as well," Elledge said. "Not many crew chiefs get the opportunity to work with a driver of the caliber of Juan or with a sponsor like Havoline that has meant so much to the sport. I think Juan's very passionate about winning. He's not satisfied with losing.


Owner Jack Roush also has shuttled crew chiefs between his teams.

"Making the move couldn't come at a better time with the off week," said Elledge, who is looking forward to working with a driver of Montoya's caliber. "Swapping crew chiefs has been successful at organizations like Roush and Childress, and it has the potential to be positive for Ganassi Racing. If it's a chemistry thing, we'll find out soon enough. It's a lot easier to find chemistry than to find speed in a racecar."

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