Meendering's blueprint for Petty success a proven one

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- During the latter half of last season, it appeared that Doug Randolph clicked as veteran driver Bobby Labonte's crew chief in the Sprint Cup Series.

So when it was revealed that Randolph would be leaving at the end of the season for another job at Dale Earnhardt Inc., it seemed a severe blow to the Petty Enterprises operation. The loss of Randolph, however, was already offset by the pending arrival of the man who was going to replace Randolph as crew chief regardless: Jeff Meendering.

The right direction

Tears have already been shed due to Petty Enterprises' move to Mooresville. But most know that greener pastures lie ahead.

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• Meendering named crew chief

"We knew for sure that Jeff was coming," said Labonte, who finished 18th in points in 2007. "We tried to keep Doug in another role -- director of engineering, testing, whatever the case may have been. We would have loved to have kept Doug on board. We just couldn't make it happen.

"But when it became clear that Doug was going to leave, we knew for weeks, maybe even months by then, that Jeff was coming. We just couldn't say it at the time. I felt bad about losing Doug, but I knew we had Jeff in our back pocket."

It was a comforting feeling to Labonte.

Meendering is best known as the former car chief for Jeff Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolets at Hendrick Motorsports. He stepped in as crew chief for six races last season when Gordon's own crew chief, Steve Letarte, was suspended for rules violations.

Even before that happened, Meendering, a former driver himself who used to compete at the same Concord Motorsports short track that Labonte once did, knew he wanted to be a crew chief. He also saw the writing on the wall at Hendrick, where already it had become clear that Darian Grubb, crew chief last season for the No. 25 Chevy driven by Casey Mears, was moving to another role to make room for the arrival of Tony Eury Jr., the longtime crew chief of new Hendrick driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.

"I can't say it was an easy decision to leave. I was really happy working at Hendrick. It's a great organization to work in," said Meendering, who had been employed there for 13 years. "But I also realized with Dale Earnhardt Jr. bringing Tony Eury Jr. over with him, they had one too many crew chiefs already -- and all their crew chiefs are well established and good crew chiefs.

"So I couldn't see any opportunities opening up anytime soon for me. I've got a 6-year-old at home and another baby on the way, so I kind of wanted to step it up a little bit because I can't see myself 10 years from now traveling the schedule like I am now. So I just kind of wanted to speed up my life a little bit here now."

Robbie Loomis, vice president of race operations for Petty, thought Meendering would be the perfect fit to help speed up not only Labonte on the track in the short term, but perhaps the entire Petty Enterprises operation in the long run. Loomis, who was Gordon's crew chief from 2000 until the final 10 races of the 2006 season, was the first to take a young Meendering out on the road for races after Meendering began his career at Hendrick "as a teenager sweeping floors." (Continued)