NASCAR’s Joe Gibbs Racing shuffles Sprint Cup drivers’ crew chiefs

Joe Gibbs Racing on Thursday shuffled the lineup of crew chiefs for its Sprint Cup Series drivers for next season.

Gibbs had a three-driver team this year: Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth. They all qualified for the initial 16-driver field in NASCAR’s Chase for the Cup title playoff but won only two races between them during the full year.

Next year Gibbs is adding a fourth driver to its Toyota team, Carl Edwards, who moved from Roush Fenway Racing.

Gibbs said Dave Rogers would shift from Busch’s No. 18 car to become crew chief of Hamlin’s No. 11 car.

Darian Grubb, who had been Hamlin’s crew chief, now takes over those duties for Edwards’ No. 19 Toyota.

Adam Stevens, who spent the last four seasons as a crew chief for Gibbs in NASCAR’s second-level Nationwide Series, becomes Busch’s new crew chief.

Jason Ratcliff remains crew chief for Kenseth’s No. 20 car.

With the addition of Edwards, “we have been able to take a step back and evaluate each of our teams and make decisions that we feel are best for our organization long-term,” Gibbs President J.D. Gibbs said in a statement.

Follow @PeltzLATimes for more motor racing news