There will be some new driver-crew chief pairings at Furniture Row Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing in the Cup series in 2015. Canadian engineer Cole Pearn has been named as the new crew chief of the #78 Chevrolet at Furniture Row driven by Martin Truex Jr., replacing Todd Berrier in that position. Pearn has been a crew member at FRR since 2010 when he moved there from Richard Childress Racing. Next year's plans for Berrier, who was previously Kurt Busch's crew chief when Busch drove the #78 from late 2012 to the end of 2013, are not yet known.
Meanwhile, JGR president J.D. Gibbs has overseen a crew chief shakeup in the newly expanded four-car Sprint Cup team as well as the Xfinity Series. Darian Grubb has been moved from the #11 Toyota of Denny Hamlin to the new #19 Toyota team created for Carl Edwards, who came from the #99 Ford at Roush Fenway Racing. Dave Rogers is going from the #18 Toyota driven by Kyle Busch to Hamlin's team, and Adam Stevens has been promoted from Xfinity as Busch's new crew chief. Jason Ratcliff is staying with Matt Kenseth and the #20 Toyota. JGR's Xfinity division has Eric Phillips going to the #18 Toyota of rookie Mexican driver Daniel Suarez, while Mike Wheeler is going to the #20 car that has a long list of drivers signed on for the season, and Chris Gayle has been sent to the #54 car that also has multiple drivers, but primarily Kyle Busch.
Joe Gibbs Racing had somewhat of an off-year in Cup in 2014, as the team won just two races in the series in the spring, Busch at Fontana and Hamlin at Talladega, which were also Toyota's only two wins in the series all year. Hamlin did make the final four of the Chase at Homestead but ultimately finished third in the final standings. Matt Kenseth, who won the most Cup races (seven) last year, failed to visit victory lane in the series this year, although he did pull off a win in the Homestead Nationwide finale. Coincidentally, this was previously done by Carl Edwards in 2009, who gave Roush its only two Cup wins in 2014.
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