The Hand Me Down Crew Chief?



It most families, brothers share things while growing up. It might be a pair of hand me down jeans, a car, or even a pretty girl. In most situations, items are handed down from the eldest brother to the younger, so it's pretty rare that an older brother gets something that once belonged to his younger sibling. Yet, that's what happend this week between two of the most talked about brothers to grace the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in recent history.

The item the older got from the younger? A crew chief.

2009 wasn't a great season for either of the Busch brothers when it came to crew chiefs. First Pat Tryson announced his departure from the #2 Miller Lite Dodge driven by Kurt Busch. Tryson's departure announcement just before the Chase for the Sprint Cup was to begin led to much speculation regarding how the team would handle the last 10 races of the season. Even with what many concidered to be a "Lame Duck" crew chief Kurt pulled off a forth place finish in the final standing and earned his second victory of the season at Texas.

Just weeks later Joe Gibbs Racing made the decision to remove Steve Addington as crew chief for the #18 driven by the younger Busch. Addington was replaced by Dave Rogers in a move that had many people talking. Although Addington helped Kyle Busch to win 12 races over the 2008 and 2009 season Busch poor finish in the standings and lack of consistency led to this change.

On Monday Penske Racing announced that Addington had been chosen to replace Tryson as the crew chief for Kurt Busch's team in 2010. When making the annoucement Roger Penske said, "Steve Addington has a proven track record of success in NASCAR and we are excited to welcome him to Penske Racing. By adding Steve to the winning Miller Lite team and working closely with Kurt, we believe we have the combination in place to compete for a championship as we head into the 2010 season."

Will Addington's success with Kyle translate to success with Kurt or will fans of the older brother be wishing Penske had chosen another to replace Tyson? What's your opinion?
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Image via Getty Images for NASCAR 
The Hand Me Down Crew Chief? The Hand Me Down Crew Chief? Reviewed by Katy Lindamood on Tuesday, December 15, 2009 Rating: 5