Who are these guys?

Ok, so you've heard the names Brian Whitesell, Lance McGrew, Rex Stump and Tom Stewart all day long and you might be wondering, who are these guys? Well, you're about to find out. We'll start with Brian since he'll be on the pit box this weekend at Dover.

Brian Whitesell is the team manager for both Mark Martin's #5 and Earnhardt's #88 teams. He got into NASCAR by volunteering for Alan Kulwicki's team in 1992, and was a part of that championship run. Soon afterward, he got a gig with Hendrick, and worked closely with Jeff Gordon's team. He served as interim crew chief for Gordon in 1999 after Ray Evernham left, and the team won two of seven races. He will serve as Dale Jr's crew chief for the race this weekend at Dover.

Lance McGrew won the 2003 Nationwide championship with Brian Vickers, and also led Vickers to a Sprint Cup victory at Talladega in October 2006. As a crew chief, he's won in all three series, guiding Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Mark Martin and Ricky Hendrick to victory lane. He was the guy in the box when Tony Stewart won the Nationwide race this past February at Daytona. (Lance will begin his role as interim crew chief at Pocono Raceway)


Rex Stump is the man behind Jeff Gordons T-Rex car. He is the Lead Chassis Engineer for Hendrick and along with Brian, has been assigned to support Lance on a full-time basis.

Tom Stewart is the 88 team engineer and along with Brian, will sit in the pit box with Lance and assist him with race strategy.

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Rick is pulling out all the stops for the 88 team and after reading how he plans to do that, I am personally excited to see what happens over the next few weeks. I know Dale Jr didn't want this time to come so soon, but it's time to step it up and take what Rick is giving him. This is Dale Jr's time to turn this first part of the season around, and get himself back in the race to the chase. Let's hope this major change does exactly that!