Darian Grubb named crew chief for William Byron in 2018

Posted November 01, 2017 7:00 am

The Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Veteran crew chief Darian Grubb will lead rookie William Byron when he steps up to NASCAR's top level next season with Hendrick Motorsports.

Grubb will be crew chief for Byron and the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro team. Byron will make his Cup Series debut in 2018 and compete for rookie of the year.

Grubb led Tony Stewart to the 2011 Cup championship and has 23 Cup wins, third among active full-time crew chiefs.

The Hendrick pairings next season will be: Chase Elliott with crew chief Alan Gustafson, seven-time champions Chad Knaus and Jimmie Johnson, and Greg Ives leading Alex Bowman.

Grubb originally joined Hendrick Motorsports in January 2003 and was lead race engineer for Johnson until 2006. He's been an interim crew chief for Johnson, crew chief for Casey Mears and engineering manager for part of the Hendrick operation.

He left in 2009 to crew chief Stewart, then went to Joe Gibbs Racing after three seasons. Grubb rejoined Hendrick in 2016 to oversee race car manufacturing as vehicle production director. He was recently promoted to director of competition systems.

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