Kyle Larson to have a new pit crew at Darlington
DARLINGTON, S.C. — Despite four consecutive top-10 finishes, including a win two weeks ago, Kyle Larson will have a nearly new pit crew at Darlington Raceway this weekend.
Jafar Hall replaces Blaine Anderson as front tire changer. Mike Moss replaces Calvin Teague as rear tire changer. Allen Stallings replaces RJ Barnette as tire carrier. Eric Ludwig replaces Brandon Johnson as jackman.
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Teague and Barnette were both on Larson's pit crew when he won the 2021 championship.
Only fueler Brandon Harder remains the same for the No. 5 team from last week's race at Martinsville.
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Hall and Ludwig were with Larson's team at Phoenix and Las Vegas when Anderson and Johnson served NASCAR-mandated two-race suspensions for a tire coming off the No. 5 car on the course at COTA.
Hall and Ludwig have been with Justin Haley's team in the other races this season. Moss and Stallings have been with Haley's team all season. Hendrick Motorsports supplies pit crews to Spire Motorsports.
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Hall, Ludwig, Moss and Stallings were a part of a crew with Haley that has turned in some of the quicker pit times among those in the Hendrick camp in recent weeks.
'We've looked at a lot of different factors of really not what the old (No.) 5 group was doing wrong, but what this other group was doing right,' crew chief Cliff Daniels said Saturday morning at Darlington Raceway about the change. 'We've been working really hard within our pit department of just pushing, pushing the edge of performance and whatever that takes to keep moving the needle Certainly a lot of teams are performing at a very high level on pit road.'
Daniels said that the previous No. 5 pit crew had been 'solid' in recent races, which has seen Larson finish third at Phoenix, ninth at Las Vegas, first at Homestead and fifth at Martinsville.
'Solid is certainly a great word to use,' Daniels said of the crew's performance lately. 'But we weren't outstanding over-the-top of times. … Over the course of this season and over the course of the end of last season, the incoming group has really been putting up really fast times, very consistent, performing at a high level.'
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Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
Bruins trying to sift through the science of finding value in the NHL Entry Draft haystack
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In part, he noted, that's also to prepare for a scenario that would include GM Don Sweeney moving the pick — be it for a slot higher or lower in the draft order, or to land a player who can become an immediate roster part of the franchise's rebuild. In all likelihood, a No. 7 pick, though prized, would need to develop elsewhere before being considered for the Boston varsity. As the director of amateur scouting, to see No. 7 disappear would have to be crushing, no? 'The ultimate goal for all of us is to get the Boston Bruins back to winning the Stanley Cup,' said Nadeau. 'So if Don Sweeney gets offered something that he feels he can't refuse and moves the seventh pick, we're going to focus on our two second-round picks, our third-round pick. We're still sitting there with 51, 63, 69, which from our standpoint is really exciting.' Advertisement Which is not to say that Nadeau cares to look past the prospect of bringing home No. 7. 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What's a swap meet without a pipe dream? Key to Sturm's success, and a point Sweeney did not address on Thursday in The 2024-25 Bruins couldn't score enough and couldn't defend at crucial times. Other than that bit of Tesla spontaneously combusting in the driveway, you know, great ride, was it not? What an intriguing thought to have Sturm aided back there by both Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara . Like Sturm, neither of those future Hall-of-Famers ever has coached at the NHL level, but so what? All three were good pals during Sturm's five years here. All three helped create and curate the culture of discipline and professionalism and competitiveness that defined the team until it began to erode, in chunks, following the summer '23 retirements of Bergeron and Krejci. Best to think, for now, of Bergeron and Chara in coaching roles as two more pipe dreams. Bergeron in his latter playing years repeatedly evinced very little interest (read: zero) in coaching upon retirement, particularly any time soon after calling it quits. 'For now, it's the same answer. I don't think it's in the cards,' said Bergeron on Friday in an interview with the Globe. 'Never say never. Time will tell. Right now I don't see it as something I would like to pursue. I guess I'm getting started coaching two of my sons. We'll see exactly. Never say never.' All that said, who wouldn't want Bergy in the mix? Even if his job description was just 'assistant coach, special services, solely in charge of the power-play bumper.' Chara, in the late stages of his playing career here, was a tiny bit more open to something in the coaching sphere. He has been around the team more in recent months at Sweeney's behest. It has been an unofficial role, one that both have yet to define. 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