It’s been a mostly forgettable year for Greg Biffle, forgettable in the sense that there’s been almost nothing to remember. Just one top 5 all season, no finish higher than 5th since early April, and Chase hopes that fade with every potential wild-card race winner. Something had to give, and on Monday afternoon, something did: crew chief Greg Erwin’s job.
Matt Puccia, a longtime member of the Roush Fenway team and most recently atop the box last year for Paul Menard‘s Nationwide run in 2010, will take over as crew chief of the No. 16 3M Ford.
“Matt Puccia has been a very effective and successful crew chief with the organization in both the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series,” team owner Jack Roush said in a statement. “Most recently he has led the research and development efforts for our superspeedway program which helped put David Ragan in victory lane in Daytona. This is a natural progression of our crew chief development and I have every confidence that he will do well in this new role.”
As for the guy, pictured at right, whose job he’s taking? “Greg Erwin has made a significant contribution to our engineering efforts and our program is better because of him.” Erwin will be reassigned within the Roush family.
Biffle, in the same statement, noted that Erwin took the No. 16 team to the Chase the past three years, though without much success other than a two-win run in 2008 that briefly had Biffle atop the standings. Biffle’s most recent win came last fall at Kansas.
Biffle faces a climb to get back into the Chase. He’s currently 33 points out of 10th place, but has three drivers between himself and that spot. He’s also without that key wild card win, one which Ragan already holds just one spot below him.
Looking for mojo, Greg Biffle’s team swaps out crew chiefs
