Hammer Time: Addington Out, Johnston In at SHR

Bob Pockrass, Sporting News

Former Martin Truex Jr. crew chief Chad Johnston will replace Steve Addington as crew chief for Tony Stewart, according to a FoxSports.com report.

Johnston led Truex to the Chase for the Sprint Cup in 2012 and one win in 2013 and nearly a Chase berth until a NASCAR penalty for Michael Waltrip Racing resulted in Truex missing the Chase. The MWR penalty, part of the fallout from the team’s manipulating of the race results Sept. 7 at Richmond, eventually led to NAPA pulling its sponsorship from MWR.

That left Truex and Johnston looking for new jobs. Truex will drive for Furniture Row Racing next year, and Johnston has landed at Stewart-Haas Racing.

Johnston replaces Addington, who took over as Stewart’s crew chief in 2012 after a 2011 season where crew chief Darian Grubb was informed he wouldn’t be retained and then Grubb went out and won the 2011 title with Stewart.

Stewart won three races but finished ninth in the standings in 2012 but struggled for much of 2013, where he was 11th in the standings with one victory until he broke his leg in a sprint-car racing accident in August. The team, which used Max Papis, Austin Dillon and Mark Martin as its replacements for Stewart, finished 18th in the owner standings.

The three-time Cup champion Stewart is expected to return behind the wheel in February for the start of the 2014 season.

He hopes Johnston can help him rebound, and Johnston will have a familiar face atop the pit box of another SHR car as another former MWR crew chief, Rodney Childers, left the organization in August after he had decided he would be the crew chief for Kevin Harvick, who is moving from Richard Childress Racing to SHR.

Addington’s name has been linked to the crew chief openings at Phoenix Racing and Richard Petty Motorsports in recent weeks.

The week after the season is the typical time for crew-chief changes to be announced. Roush Fenway Racing announced Tuesday that Ricky Stenhouse Jr. would be reunited with Mike Kelley, who led Stenhouse to Nationwide Series titles in 2011 and 2012. Scott Graves, who was Stenhouse's crew chief for his rookie Cup season, will crew chief Roush Fenway driver Chris Buescher in the Nationwide Series. Chad Norris, who had been crew chief for the now-departed Travis Pastrana, will replace Kelley as crew chief for Trevor Bayne in the Nationwide Series.