Andrews
named crew chief of No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet
Richard Childress Racing Cup teams trade places
for 2004
WELCOME,
N.C. (Dec. 4, 2003) – Richard Childress Racing announced today Chris
Andrews, former RCR team engineer, will begin his rookie crew chief
season in 2004 with Robby Gordon and the No. 31 Cingular Wireless
Chevrolet team. In addition, to round out the rest of Team Cingular
Wireless, the majority of the 2003 No. 30 crew members will join
Andrews and Gordon to run for the 2004 NASCAR Cup championship.
"Robby got used to working with an engineer
instead of a crew chief from his days of driving Indy Cars so this
will be nothing new to him," said Richard Childress, president
and CEO of Richard Childress Racing. "Chris and Kevin Hamlin
were successful last year working side-by-side with Robby on the
Cingular Wireless team and I see Chris making a smooth transition
to calling the shots on his own. I think Robby and Chris working
with the crew from last season’s America Online team can be a very
successful combination."
An Evansville, Ind., native and 1992 graduate
of Purdue University’s School of Interdisciplinary Engineering,
Andrews has been an employee at Richard Childress Racing since 1999.
One of the first engineers hired to join RCR, Andrews has worked
with every Cup and Busch team but started focusing most of his attention
toward the No. 31 Cingular Wireless team the latter part of the
2002 season after the No. 29/No. 31 crew swap took place.
“I have known Robby for almost 10 years
now and we have worked great together the last year-and-a-half so
I am ready to just keep moving forward and work for a win every
weekend in 2004,” Andrews said. “This is a great opportunity
Richard is giving me. I am very excited and optimistic about what
lies ahead because we are building great race cars and a great team.”
Andrews worked alongside Gordon and his former
crew chief Kevin Hamlin during the 2003 season, as Gordon posted
his most successful year of stock car racing with two victories
and a 16th-place finish in championship points. Gordon hopes to
build from the high points of the past season to have a stronger
run in 2004.
“I look forward to seeing what Chris has
up his sleeve and to getting everything underway,” Gordon said.
“Change is always good and it seemed to work well for everyone
in 2002, so hopefully it will do the same for us next year. Change
is what makes the world go round, so hopefully it will make us go
around the track a little faster.”
Hamlin will assume the role as crew chief of
the No. 30 Chevrolet, and will be joined in the move by his 2003
No. 31 Cingular Wireless crew.
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