Part of Joey Logano's lack of success in Sprint Cup may be the driver crew chief combination. There is no doubt that Greg Zipidelli is a great crew chief, but maybe Zippy and Joey just can't communicate properly with each other. Zippy was with the same driver for 10 seasons and it's been 9 seasons since he had to work with a rookie. I think Zippy may have become so accustomed to what Tony wanted and needed to drive the car and win races, that he may be having a hard time understanding what Joey wants and needs.
Joe Gibbs needs to do something before the famed 20 car falls out of the top 35 in owners points. Looking at the performance of the 18 and 11 teams rules out the poor equipment option, so Joe probably has two options to try and figure out if the problem is driver or crew chief. He could leave Joey in the 20 car and pair him with another crew chief for five races and see if it makes a difference or he could take the same route as did Team Redbull with A J Allmendinger and put a seasoned veteran behind the wheel of the car for five races to try and figure out what the problem is.
The solution may be as simple as putting another crew chief with Joey or as severe as taking Joey out of the car and putting in a different driver with a different crew chief. I would rather not see either of these people relieved of their duties, but something needs to be done to help the 20 team.
Congrats to Jeff Gordon for his Sprint Cup win at Texas on Sunday and congrats to Kyle Busch for his Nationwide win at Texas on Saturday.
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