Prime time for NASCAR personnel changes stays quiet

CONCORD, N.C.

Peel away the talk about Jeremy Mayfield's positive drug test. Move beyond the record fine NASCAR handed Carl Long this week for an oversized engine. Forget, for a moment, the concerns about the racing.

There's more going on in racing. Key decisions are being made about how to improve performance with 15 races left until the title Chase begins.

In a sport known for numerous personnel changes, it has been quiet since the crew swap between teammates Kevin Harvick and Casey Mears late last month. Crew chief changes and other such moves often happened during this time. It gave teams the chance to use the non-points all-star race to work out the kinks of a new driver-crew chief relationship. With that time passed, the question becomes if and when such moves will be made.

For teams needing to make big moves to get into Chase contention, major personnel changes could be too late to make an impact.

Often, a new crew chief sets up the car differently, and for the first few races is using equipment set up by the former chief. With races every weekend for the next eight weeks - including Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte - there's little time for any crew chief to make major changes while trying to oversee a new team.

Of course, change doesn't guarantee success.

So, some teams keep the status quo. Many fans have called for changes to Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s team; Junior is 18th in the season standings but only 89 points out of 12th, the last transfer spot for the Chase.

Even if major personnel changes aren't made, there's much work to do for many teams.

Richard Childress Racing placed all three of its teams in the Chase last year. The organization expanded to four teams this offseason, but has only one driver in the top 12 with Jeff Burton sixth.

"I think it's pretty obvious that as a company, as a whole, we haven't performed as well as we need to this year," Burton said. "There's been some races where we have, but we've not had a race where we felt like every team was really good, with the exception of maybe Talladega."

Another team expected to do better than it has is Roush Fenway Racing. An organization that won 11 races last year has two wins so far and only two of its five drivers in the top 10 in points. Greg Biffle is ninth and Matt Kenseth 10th.

"We haven't been near as consistent," Kenseth said about the Roush operation. "It's just been a lot of different things that have been wrong, but, certainly, at the end of the day, all that really matters are your finishes, and we've been too inconsistent.

"We've just been looking at all aspects of the program and just trying to improve every part of it."

Roush driver Carl Edwards - the man many predicted would end Jimmie Johnson's streak of three consecutive titles - is 12th in the standings. Edwards has been plagued by pit problems throughout this season.

"Yes, there's a concern I'll miss the Chase," Edwards said. "It can happen. We've got to run well enough and keep the bad luck away from us. Trust me, I know exactly where we are in the points, and I'm working hard to change it in a good way."