NASCAR's Kevin Harvick gets new crew chief for 2012

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

Photo: NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick last Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Credit: Jerry Markland / Getty Images

The conundrum that is NASCAR's Phoenix race

"This could be interesting."

So summed up driver Kevin Harvick as he previewed Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at the newly repaved, reconfigured Phoenix International Raceway.

As with any repaved speedway, it's unclear how the pack of 43 cars in a Cup race will behave on the new, smooth surface. But the uncertainty is heightened Sunday because it's the next-to-last race in NASCAR's Chase for the Cup championship playoff.

Carl Edwards leads the Chase by three points over two-time champion Tony Stewart, and it's widely thought that they will battle for the title. But Harvick, 33 points behind Edwards and third place in the standings, still has a shot.

Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500 "could be a game-changer," Harvick said, but "in what direction, I don't think anybody knows because we have no clue how it's going to race."

"We know we can all drive around by ourselves and make good lap time and adjust on our cars," the Bakersfield native said. "But how hard it will be to pass when they drop the green flag and everybody's on the race track? We don't know." 

NASCAR's Jimmie Johnson to crew chief: No cheerleading please

Jimmie Johnson's crew chief, Chad Knaus, is widely viewed as perhaps the brainiest crew chief in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and a key reason why Johnson has won a record five consecutive championships.

But Knaus' ability to be Johnson's cheerleader? Not so much, Johnson said.

Johnson and Knaus raised eyebrows Sept. 25 when they got testy with each other on the radio during the race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

As Johnson struggled to an 18th-place finish in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Knaus tried to urge him on. Johnson wanted none of it.

That was the second race in the 10-race Chase for the Cup title playoff, and afterward Johnson dropped to 10th in the standings, his lowest position ever in the Chase.

But Johnson finished second the following week at Dover, Del., jumped to fifth in the standings and is only 13 points behind co-leaders Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards ahead of Sunday's race at the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway.

So are things smoother now between Johnson and Knaus?

"People overreacted [to the radio chatter] and Chad has never been a good cheerleader and I just kind of needed to remind him of that at New Hampshire," Johnson told reporters Friday before practice at Kansas, according to a Team Chevy transcript.

"We talk about stuff all the time, good and bad, that's good races and bad races," Johnson said.

"If you had a microphone and heard a quarterback and head coach conversation, I'm sure it would be a lot more sharp and pointed than what I said to him," Johnson said.