Hendrick taps Burdett as Gordon's new car chief

NEW YORK -- Steve Letarte's new right-hand man is a familiar face at Hendrick Motorsports. Jason Burdett, who once worked for the four-car organization, is returning to become the car chief on Jeff Gordon's No. 24 team.

Burdett, most recently the crew chief for Dale Jarrett's No. 44 car at Michael Waltrip Racing, will replace Jeff Meendering, who was recently announced as the new crew chief for Bobby Labonte's No. 43 car at Petty Enterprises (complete story). Burdett was a car chief with the merged Hendrick teams of Gordon and Jimmie Johnson before leaving to pursue a crew chief opportunity.

"He came up in the 24/48 shop, and was a car chief there before he left," team owner Rick Hendrick said Wednesday during Nextel Cup Champions Week activities. "He's got crew chief experience, but wants to come back to be a car chief. The maturity he has, plus he's already worked with those guys, he should be a natural."

Meendering spent 13 years at Hendrick, the last two and a half as car chief. He served as interim crew chief for six races in 2007 while regular crew chief Letarte was serving a suspension for illegal modifications made to a Car of Tomorrow chassis at Sonoma, Calif. Gordon's team finished inside the top-10 in each of those starts, with a top result of second.

Meendering's new boss at Petty is Robbie Loomis, Gordon's former crew chief at Hendrick. He left with his teammates' blessings.

"You can't ever not support a guy like that," Gordon said. "Here's a guy who was great in our organization, and has an opportunity to be a crew chief where he didn't have that opportunity at Hendrick. He really had gotten as high up as he was going to get, certainly for the next few years anyway. When a guy like that gets that kind of opportunity, you thank him for all that he's done, you support him, and you make an easy transition for him.

"You never know what might happen down the road in the future. Plus, we have a great relationship with Petty Enterprises and Robbie Loomis, my former crew chief. It wasn't like somebody came and stole him away or anything like that. It's kind of how the business works."