Carrier out for the #77

[shornish]

Travis Geisler replaced Chris Carrier as crew chief for rookie Sam Hornish Jr. in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series on Tuesday.

Geisler, a 27-year-old mechanical engineering graduate from Vanderbilt, has been the race engineer for Ryan Newman's No. 12 Dodge. He played a key part in that team's Daytona 500 victory in February.

Go inside the garageWant to know the latest news and results from the world of NASCAR? We've got all the angles covered Around the Track. "We appreciate the effort Chris has put into this role. However, this is a performance-oriented business. When the results are not meeting the expectations, we have to make changes," said Tim Cindric, president of Penske Racing. "Travis is another example of our willingness to promote from within. His depth of knowledge as a racer and engineer, as well as his proven ability to work with both drivers and crews, will be a great addition to the entire Mobil 1 team."

Hornish, a three-time IndyCar Series champion and the 2006 Indianapolis 500 winner, is trying to make the transition to stock cars. Heading to Bristol this week, Hornish, driving the No. 77 Dodge, is 33rd in the season points and has a best finish of 13th in May at Charlotte.

Ben Atkins, previously with the Penske test team, will replace Geisler as the race engineer for Newman. Before joining the Penske team, he was a race engineer for Dale Earnhardt Inc.

[lkchris]

It seems good to me for the trend to be for engineers to replace "good ol' boys" as crew chiefs, but I'm not so sure it's going to happen quickly.

Drivers like Hornish and Newman might be better prepared for this than, say, Earnhardt, Jr.

Interesting analogy might be how long HD stayed successful in motorcycle racing with flathead engines. Eventually they weren't.

[Jim Wilke]

The Harley Davidson sidevalves were successful for so long because they had a 50% advantage in displacement.

[JSR]

So basically since Newman is leaving Hornish is getting an upgrade. Seems like a good idea since Newman has basically no chance to make the chase.

[Racechic317]

So basically since Newman is leaving Hornish is getting an upgrade. Seems like a good idea since Newman has basically no chance to make the chase.

Ditto! Great idea !

[JohnMc]

Sam has always had a handling problem with the car. It was too loose, too tight, had trouble going into the corners, had trouble going out of the corners or had trouble in the corners. This was race after race after race. I could not understand why Carrier had a difficult time with this.

[Coyote]

Sam has always had a handling problem with the car. It was too loose, too tight, had trouble going into the corners, had trouble going out of the corners or had trouble in the corners. This was race after race after race. I could not understand why Carrier had a difficult time with this.

If you read the race wrapups at the Penske website, it seems that all their drivers comment at a very high frequency as to the car being off. I suppose that's the training for how to give the crew chief plenty of information to make the car faster. Newman seems to complain plenty.

But Sam does seem number one in that area.

I'm glad to hear about the change. Newman's been steady recently. If the new guy can't get Sam running much better, it ain't the car.

[JohnMc]

Qualified 35 at Bristol. This is as good a track as any for a driver and crew cheif to get to know one another.

[Coyote]

Sam was running pretty slow before being taken out in a wreck.

He's going to have a real fight on his hands now to stay in the top 35. Allmendinger, Skinner, and Riggs are all going to finish well ahead of him tonight. And if Skinner's in the 00 for the rest of the year he'll smoke Sam. Dinger, too. Riggs maybe not so much. Sam needs to get it going in a hurry. Would be sad to have run all year in a Penske car and still start next year out of the 35.

[LorenzoBandini]

If the new guy can't get Sam running much better, it ain't the car.

It ain't the car or the driver. It is the team. Kurt Busch has not run well either and Newman has been more down than up.

All three can't be bad.

[Coyote]

It ain't the car or the driver. It is the team. Kurt Busch has not run well either and Newman has been more down than up.

All three can't be bad.

Seems partly true. Newman has been running much nearer the front than either Busch or Hornish however, with Busch usually faster than Hornish. Although to Hornish's credit he hasn't been much slower than Kurt recently and as a rookie that may be progress.

Hornish seemed to be running on average 2 tenths slower than Newman and Busch at Bristol though, after they improved his car. With 17 second laps, that's a lot. Newman raced his way to 4th and held it for awhile and finished respectably, 11th or something.

The Penske website says Sam was running well until being taken out... Then they admit that he was in 35th. Sweeet.

It may be the team or the car, but the teams they are fighting with for the top 35 aren't exactly juggernauts, and they've been outrunning Sam recently.