Hendrick shakes up Larson pit crew

Hendrick Motorsports has changed all but one member of Kyle Larson’s pit crew ahead of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway.

Jafar Hall (front tire changer), Mike Moss (rear tire changer), Allen Stallings (tire carrier), and Eric Ludwig (jackman) are the four new members of the roster. They were moved to Larson’s No. 5 team from Spire Motorsports, where they were pitting the No. 7 Chevrolet of Jusitn Haley.

Hendrick Motorsports supplies pit crew members to Spire Motorsports.

“It was a decision that we didn’t take lightly and spent a lot of time to try to be calculated with how we went about it,” Cliff Daniels, the crew chief of the No. 5 team, told RACER. “I will say, I have nothing but good things to say about the group that we moved off the No. 5 this week. They’ve bled No. 5 car and Hendrick for many years, and I still think they’ve got a bright future ahead at Hendrick Motorsports.

“Why now? We’ve certainly done a lot of our own internal work of looking at the numbers that the other group brings to the table, and they’ve got a bit of speed over the group that we’ve had for a little while, and really (we) just wanted to give them the opportunity as a group to come and deliver on that.”

Brandon Harder remains unchanged in his role as fueler for Larson’s team.

It is not the first time Hall and Ludwig have serviced Larson’s car. The duo was moved to the team for the races at Phoenix Raceway (March 9) and Las Vegas Motor Speedway (March 16) when Blaine Anderson (front changer) and Brandon Johnson (jackman) were suspended for two weeks when the right front tire came off Larson’s car at Circuit of the Americas.

Larson’s team was also penalized for a right front wheel coming off in 2024. It occurred at Texas Motor Speedway.

“I think for the Hendrick Motorsports pit department, we’ve had a lot of good leadership over the years, and now the coaches are really pushing the guys just on going and getting that extra little bit of performance,” Daniels continued. “The group we’ve had for so long is so solid; they’re so experienced. That’s why I have nothing but love and respect for them, and recently, because of the penalty we had this year, we got to see some of the other guys come in. We got to see it last year (or) two years in a row (that) we’ve had the tire penalties. So, we’ve kind of seen that group in two different versions.

“Now, to give them the opportunity as a group to come in and showcase what they’re capable of, I think, is a big step for the Hendrick pit department, for us, and there’s no telling what it’s going to look like this week or the next two weeks. We certainly want them to get settled in and get comfortable, but we do think there’s a bit of time there that they’re going to bring to us, and hopefully, we can just kind of build on what they’re going to bring to the table now and moving forward to coming back here to start the playoffs in September.”

Larson is second in the championship standings after seven races with one victory and five top-10 finishes.