Gibbs not ready to discuss upcoming personnel changes

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Joe Gibbs Racing is not discussing upcoming personnel changes to its four-car Sprint Cup lineup.

Both team owner Joe Gibbs and driver Carl Edwards said they were not ready to comment on speculation crew chief Darian Grubb will move into an engineering role with the organization. Grubb was moved from Denny Hamlin's car a year ago to crew chief Edwards when JGR expanded to four cars.

"We're still going through all that right now, and that's why where we are with the organization, we're going to wait and I'm not comfortable right now saying what is going to happen," Gibbs said Thursday. "We have a lot to decide and with Denny's situation, he's going to sit down and be a big part of that so there's nothing we want to announce right now."

Hamlin had knee surgery this week and did not travel to Las Vegas for the season-ending awards ceremony.

Edwards said Gibbs had asked him not to discuss personnel moves until the team was ready to announce all of its plans. He praised the job Grubb did during the final stretch of the season, when Edwards advanced into the third round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. He finished fifth in the final standings.

Grubb won a championship in 2011 with Tony Stewart, but was let go by Stewart right after the title-winning run. He was then hired by JGR for Hamlin, and was one pit stop away from winning the championship with Hamlin last year.

Grubb will likely be replaced by Dave Rogers, who has spent the last year as Hamlin's crew chief. Hamlin would then probably get Mike Wheeler, his former engineer who was moved into a crew chief role in the Xfinity Series to gain the experience for a Sprint Cup job.

Rogers joined JGR in in 2005 as crew chief for Jason Leffler. He was then partnered with Hamlin in the Xfinity Series.

Rogers returned to the Sprint Cup Series in 2009 with Kyle Busch but was moved to Hamlin last season.

Rogers has led teams to the Chase in five of seven seasons. He's accumulated 15 victories, 76 top fives and 114 top-10s in 230 starts.