Darian Grubb Named Stewart’s Crew Chief

RICHMOND, Va. (Sept. 5, 2008) – Stewart-Haas Racing has signed Darian Grubb to a multi-year contract to serve as crew chief for driver/owner Tony Stewart and the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet upon the conclusion of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, team officials announced today at Richmond International Raceway.

The 32-year-old from Floyd, Va., comes to Stewart-Haas Racing from Hendrick Motorsports, where in six years since joining the multi-car organization, he rose from team engineer with the No. 48 Sprint Cup squad in 2003 to Hendrick Motorsports’ engineering manager for the Nos. 5 and 88 Sprint Cup teams.  Grubb also has extensive experience in the role of crew chief, as he served as the interim crew chief for the No. 48 team during the first four races of the 2006 Sprint Cup season, where he led driver Jimmie Johnson to a pair of victories – including the Daytona 500 – as well as one runner-up finish and a sixth-place effort.  Johnson went on to win the Sprint Cup championship in 2006.

Grubb also spent the entire 2007 Sprint Cup season as crew chief for Casey Mears, leading the young driver to his first career Sprint Cup win in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.  The duo also earned a pole at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., and racked up five top-five and 10 top-10 results to record a solid top-15 finish in the season-ending point standings.