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Daniel Suarez's crew chief Dave Rogers taking leave of absence
Daniel Suarez will have an interim crew chief beginning at Martinsville.
Joe Gibbs Racing announced Wednesday that Suarez’s crew chief Dave Rogers would be taking a personal indefinite leave of absence from atop the pit box of the No. 19. Rogers became Suarez’s crew chief when the rookie moved up to the Cup Series in 2017 to replace Carl Edwards.
Scott Graves, the crew chief of JGR’s No. 18 car in the Xfinity Series, will take over as Suarez’s crew chief. Graves and Suarez won three races and the Xfinity Series title in 2016 so Suarez will have a familiar face guiding him in his first Cup Series trip to Martinsville. Suarez has two top-10 finishes in four Camping World Truck Series starts at the half-mile track.
Suarez was the fourth driver Rogers has worked with in four years. After working with Kyle Busch in 2014, Rogers was with Denny Hamlin in 2015 and moved to Edwards’ pit box in 2016.
Kevin Harvick will also have an interim crew chief at Martinsville. Stewart-Haas Racing said its dropped the appeal of Rodney Childers’ one-race suspension and he’ll serve it Sunday. Childers was suspended after an inspection infraction found at Phoenix.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
