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Race to make the Chase puts crew chiefs on a shorter leash than ever

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- The pressure to make NASCAR's Chase isn't limited to the drivers who do battle nearly every weekend. The crew chiefs also feel the strain, especially those who are currently outside of the top 10 in the standings or without a victory. With seven races left until the Chase, some teams are already caving in to the tremendous pressure.

Case in point -- three crew chiefs have been fired in the past 10 days.

On July 11, Matt Puccia replaced Greg Biffle's longtime crew chief Greg Erwin. At the time, Biffle, 14th in points, was 33 points out of the Chase and without a victory in 2011.

Greg Shiplett was booted as A.J. Allmendinger's crew chief this past Monday. The No. 43 car at Richard Petty Motorsports, 16th in points, was 55 points out of the Chase and also without a victory. Ironically, Shiplett was replaced by Erwin.

This past Tuesday, Brian Pattie got tossed as crew chief of Juan Pablo Montoya's No. 42 Chevrolet at Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing. He was replaced by Jim Pohlman. Montoya, 17th in points, is 59 points out of the Chase without a victory to qualify for one of the two wild cards (positions 11 and 12 in the Chase).

There is little doubt that the Chase has put crew chiefs and crew members on a shorter leash than ever.

Erwin agrees.

"The pressure is on and either you are in or you are out," Erwin told SI.com on Tuesday afternoon from the team's shop in Concord, N.C. "If you don't see yourself [in the Chase], you are making changes from a management level just like a team owner would make a change with a quarterback or a coach or an influential position. It's a shame because all of these teams are pretty good race teams and they have all had opportunities to win races this year. We know these races are really, really hard to come by as far as the wins.

"Look at the No. 48 car -- a five time champion with one win right now. That tells you how hard these things are to win."

Erwin's dismissal at Roush Fenway Racing last week didn't shock the man himself.

"The performance was there; the finishes were not," Erwin said of his aborted season with the No. 16. "We led the most laps at Michigan not long before that and we had several top-10 runs the last five weeks that came to an end ... in the pits. The finishes weren't there and when you are the crew chief on one of these things you are ultimately responsible for that. We kind of expected it. Kentucky was another one when we had a top-eight car and wound up 21st. Greg Biffle was frustrated. I was extremely frustrated and it was time to make a change, so hopefully this works out better for him and for us.

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Leena Rao currently works as a writer for TechCrunch. She recently finished graduate school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007, she helped lead Congresswoman Carloyn Maloney’s community outreach and relations efforts in New York City. She graduated from Columbia University in 2003, where she was...

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