Team engineer to serve as Kyle Larson’s interim crew chief at Michigan

Chip Ganassi Racing announced Friday on Twitter that Phil Surgen will serve as the interim crew chief for Kyle Larson‘s team this weekend at Michigan International Speedway. Crew chief Chad Johnston is serving a one-race suspension for a lug nut violation at Pocono.

Surgen joined the team before this season. He’s worked for various teams in the last decade, including Richard Childress Racing.

Johnston is the fourth Sprint Cup crew chief to miss a race weekend because of a lug nut violation since the rule was updated before the May 1 Talladega race. Kurt Busch won at Pocono on Monday while crew chief Tony Gibson was suspended because of a lug nut violation at the previous race.

Car owner Chip Ganassi was critical in a SiriusXM NASCAR Radio interview of the new lug nut policy and how it was taking the focus away from other areas NASCAR should dealing with.