Monday, November 23, 2015

Johnston To Crew Chief For Larson In 2016

Chad Johnston has been named crew chief for Kyle Larson and the No. 42 Target team at Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. Johnston will assume the role effective immediately to begin preparation for the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

Johnston joins the team from Stewart-Haas Racing, where he has been the crew chief for Tony Stewart and the No. 14 Chevrolet since 2014. He also served as crew chief for Martin Truex, Jr. and the No. 56 at Michael Waltrip Racing from 2011 to 2013. Johnston has one career NSCS race win as a crew chief (2013 Sonoma) and helped guide Truex into The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in 2012.

Johnston has also worked in NASCAR as a race engineer at Morgan-Dollar Motorsports, Evernham Motorsports, and JTG Daugherty Racing before serving as a crew chief.

The Cayuga, Ind. native graduated from Indiana State University with a major in mechanical engineering, and briefly worked in the aerospace industry before his passion for motorsports brought him to NASCAR and the Camping World Truck Series in 2004.

“I am very excited for the opportunity to be joining Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, and the opportunity to work with Kyle Larson. The organization has a great reputation in numerous forms of racing, and I’m looking forward to adding to that reputation in NASCAR. Kyle is certainly a unique talent, and I’m eager to get to work with him and the team as we look to build a foundation of success.”

Larson will begin his third full-time season in the NSCS in 2016. The 2014 NSCS Rookie of the Year is coming off of a season that featured two top-five and 10 top-10 finishes. In 75 career NSCS starts he has accumulated one pole award, 10 top-five and 27 top-10 finishes.

“I’m excited to get to work with Chad and to start doing what needs to be done to get the team to victory lane next year. As a team, I think we are very close and the addition of Chad should help move our program forward for many years to come. Lastly, I would also like to thank Chris for all he did to help me grow in my first two seasons in the Cup series.”

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