NASCAR’s Kevin Harvick gets new crew chief for 2012

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Frustrated with finishing third in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings for the second consecutive year, Kevin Harvick will get a new crew chief for the 2012 season.

Harvick’s team Richard Childress Racing said Shane Wilson would replace Gil Martin on Harvick’s No. 29 Chevrolet. Martin was named director of team operations.

‘Kevin came to me after the Phoenix race a couple of weeks ago and asked for a change,’ team owner Richard Childress said in a statement.

Wilson previously was crew chief on RCR’s No. 33 car driven by Clint Bowyer, but Bowyer is leaving to join Michael Waltrip Racing next year. Before that, Wilson was Harvick’s crew chief in the second-tier Nationwide Series in 2006 when Harvick won the series title.

Wilson ‘has a lot of experience now in the Sprint Cup Series and I look forward to working with him again,’ Harvick said.

Harvick, 35, won four Cup races this season but the Bakersfield native finished behind champion Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards in the title standings.

-- Jim Peltz