June 12, 2003

BHR Does the Crew Chief Shuffle

Effective immediately, the No. 18 and the No. 8 BHR Dodge Teams will switch crew chiefs. Danny Rollins, who has been with the No. 8 Dodge Motorsports Team and driver, Bill Lester, will move over to the No. 18 Dickies Dodge driven by Chad Chaffin. In turn, Randy Seals will subsequently take over as the crew chief of the No. 8 Dodge Motorsports Team.

"What I'm looking for with this move is for Randy (Seals) to help Bill (Lester) in the race setup area," said team owner, Bobby Hamilton. "We don't have a problem with Bill's qualifying, but what I'm hoping for is that this change will help him along in running in the second half of the race. In moving Rollins back to the No. 18, it's like sending him back home. He's been there and worked with several of those guys, so it's not that big of a change."

This will make the third time Rollins has served as crew chief on the No. 18 team. In 2001, he was crew chief for Joe Ruttman, who finished 3rd in the NASCAR Truck Series points standings. In 2002, Rollins moved back over to the No. 18 truck at the Milwaukee event, after starting the year with BHR's No. 4 truck.

"Sometimes a person can look from the outside and see what they think would be a better fit," said Rollins. "I think that's what Bobby did in this case. He felt like Randy and I would be better fitted for the other's team, so a change was made. Now it's our job to go out and produce. The main goal is to go fast, regardless of the team or driver. That's what we get paid to do."
Seals assumed the No. 18 crew chief job at the beginning of the 2003 season after heading up the No. 4 team late last season.

"My job is to make a BHR truck go fast no matter who is behind the wheel," said Seals. "I really enjoyed working with Chad, and I hope to see him win soon. I think that group of guys is right on the edge of winning a race. Starting this week though, it's my job to help Bill Lester go fast. I've worked most of my racing career with rookie or younger drivers, so this isn't that big of a change for me."

Lester posted a 12th place finish at Texas Motor Speedway last week, and currently sits in the 12th position in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points standings. He has had a solid season thus far, completing 1248 of 1261 laps run or 98.9%.

"My job is to get behind the wheel of the No. 8 truck and race as hard as I can," said Lester. "If everything goes well with this change, it will help us get that elusive top ten finish. The bottom line is we're paid to work as hard as we can together, and if changes are made, they are made to help us run better. I trust that Bobby knows what is best for the No. 8 team and in Memphis, I'm going to get everything out of the No. 8 Dodge that it has to offer."

Chaffin, on the other hand, is coming off three consecutive top ten finishes, having recorded an eighth place finish at Charlotte, a seventh place finish at Dover, and an eighth place finish again last week at Texas.

"I've enjoyed working with Randy, and our relationship is strong," said Chaffin. "I know he's going to help the No. 8 team. I'm also very confident in Danny Rollins' abilities as a winning crew chief. When our seasons to date were analyzed, a change was made to better suit each crew chief's strong points. Hopefully Rollins will be able to get the No. 18 back to victory lane."
Along with the crew chief shuffle, BHR also made a few other changes in the line ups of each of its three teams, in order to better utilize crew members' over-the-wall skills.

"One of the reasons for doing this was that we have such a versatile group of employees to choose from. We just wanted to make sure we are getting the most out of each person working on this team," said Hamilton.