- Darian Grubb
-
Darian Grubb Personal information Nationality American Born October 9, 1975
Floyd, Virginia, United StatesSport Country United States Sport NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Team Stewart Haas Racing Darian Grubb (born October 9, 1975) is a NASCAR mechanic and crew chief for Stewart-Haas Racing's No. 14 Office Depot Old Spice Chevrolet Impala driven by Tony Stewart. Before being employed at Stewart Haas Racing, Grubb worked for Hendrick Motorsports as an assistant and filled in as Jimmie Johnson's crew chief during the suspension of Chad Knaus in 2006.[1] He is also the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion crew chief.
Early life
Grubb was born in Floyd, Virginia. As a senior at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1998, Grubb was influential in the design of the school's "Tinker Bell" ATV used in competition. He graduated with a mechanical engineering degree that year.[2] [3]
Racing career
Grubb spent four years as an assistant with Hendrick Motorsports, before taking over the crew chief job temporarily for Jimmie Johnson's team at the 2006 Daytona 500, after regular crew chief Chad Knaus was suspended. Johnson went on to win that race for his first Daytona 500 victory. Johnson and Grubb went on to finish second at the 2006 Auto Club 500. Johnson won two weeks later, again with Grubb, in the 2006 UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400. In 2007, he was named the crew chief for Casey Mears' #25 Hendrick team, where he scored another win, at the Coca-Cola 600.
In the 2008 season, Grubb moved to an administrative role with Hendrick Motorsports, supervising the #5 and the renumbered #88 teams. On September 5, 2008, it was announced that Grubb was leaving Hendrick Motorsports at the end of this season to join the new Stewart-Haas Racing team to serve as Tony Stewart's crew chief in 2009. Grubb was the winning crew chief for Tony Stewart in the 2009 All-Star race at Charlotte. Grubb also guided Tony Stewart to his first win as an Owner, Driver of a points paying race. The race was won at Pocono Raceway in the Spring of 2009 and was won on fuel strategy. During the 2011 season, Grubb led Tony Stewart to his third NASCAR Championship. This was Grubb's first championship. However, Grubb announced that he would not be the crew chief for Stewart for the 2012 season.
References
- ^ "Grubb Substitutes Knaus". Yahoo.com: Bruce Martin. 13 February 2006. http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news?slug=daytona500knaus. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
- ^ http://www.mct-international.com/cgi-bin/krt/download/20060315-NASCAR2.pdf?doc=KRT%2Fkrtracin%2Fdocs%2F000%2F937&filetype=wmark_pdf
- ^ Virginia Tech Magazine University News
http://www.nascar.com/2008/news/headlines/cup/09/05/tstewart.dgrubb.crew.chief/index.html
Stewart Haas Racing Team Owners Sprint Cup drivers Sprint Cup crew chiefs Darian Grubb (#14) | Tony Gibson (#39)Driver developmental program Levi SmithPartnerships and affiliations Formerly known as Haas CNC RacingCategories:- 1975 births
- Living people
- NASCAR crew chiefs
- Virginia Tech alumni
- People from Floyd County, Virginia
- NASCAR people stubs
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.