Communication is Key
Even though a driver and crew chief can get along ok off the track chemistry is more than friendship. A crew chief needs to know exactly how much to tighten the car when his driver says it's "really loose," "a little loose" or "just a touch loose."
Also, there are different types of loose. Making a car loose with the track bar feels different then doing it with air pressure or any of the dozens of other changes that a crew chief could make. Part of NASCAR chemistry is knowing what kind of changes that your driver likes to use to fix a specific problem.
Each driver likes the race car to feel a little bit differently. Some drivers like the car to be a little loose all the way through the corner. Another driver might want a car that is loose getting into the corner, but is neutral or tight off. A driver's preference might even be different from track to track. A crew chief that knows what his driver wants has moved another step closer to finding the elusive NASCAR chemistry.
Stirring The Pot
So what does a team owner do when his driver isn't performing and there are no other obvious problems? Replace the crew chief.
The driver is rarely the first choice to be fired. The sponsors have invested money in associating themselves with a particular driver. There are no such ties to the crew chief. This makes the team owner more often than not replace the crew chief instead of the driver.
When a driver does finally get fired they have usually been through multiple crew chiefs. When the only thing that stays the same is the driver and the team is still underperforming then the team owner will have to change the chemistry by replacing the driver.
Chemistry in History
Chemistry is an elusive force in NASCAR. Finding the right combination of personalities is quite rare.
Ray Evernham and Jeff Gordon had it. Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Kirk Shelmerdine had it and Richard Petty and Dale Inman also had it. They could all communicate exactly the right changes and make their race cars do incredible things. As a result, each team won Championships and dominated their era of NASCAR.
