New crew chief for Montoya?
 |
| Juan Montoya |
This rumor is upgraded to 'fact' today. Hendrick Motorsports engineer Chris Heroy will replace interim crew chief Jim Pohlman as crew chief for Juan Pablo Montoya, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing announced Tuesday. Heroy most recently was engineer for the No. 5 team and driver Mark Martin. He was with Martin when Martin won nine races in 2009 worked with Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2010 before working with Martin again in 2011.
“We are very excited to bring Chris into the organization and to have him work with Juan Pablo," said co-owner Chip Ganassi in a statement. “We think he will be a great addition to the Target team and believe his combined engineering and crew chief background should help him work well with both our engineers and competition folks to move our program forward.
“He has a great reputation in the industry and we are happy to bring him into the mix."
Heroy joined Hendrick in 2004 after a stint as an engineer in the CART Toyota Atlantic Series.
“I am really looking forward to working with the guys in the shop at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing to help the 42 improve their performance," Heroy said. “Juan Pablo is a great driver and they have a lot of great people here, so I am thrilled to get this opportunity."
11/22/11 Chris Heroy, an engineer on the #5 Hendrick Motorsports team, is expected to be named crew chief for #42-Juan Pablo Montoya, whose crew chief, Brian Pattie, was released during the 2011 season at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. Pattie is expected to be named Clint Bowyer's crew chief at MWR in the #15 Toyota. SceneDaily