NASCAR: Stewart-Haas recruits Rex Stump as technical director

Related Stories

Stewart-Haas Racing continued its management changes with the announcement that it has recruited veteran engineer Rex Stump from Hendrick Motorsports to serve as its technical director. This follows the announcement earlier this week that Matt Borland would become the team's as vice president of technology for its NASCAR and F1 teams.

The move ends Stump's 18-year tenure with Hendrick, where he served as an engineering manager and a chassis specialist and founded the team's research and development department. One of the highlights of his tenure was the development of the infamous "T-Rex" chassis Chevrolet Monte Carlo that Jeff Gordon drove to a dominant victory in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race in 1997. That chassis was so technologically and aerodynamically advanced that NASCAR asked that it not return in competition, even though it appeared to conform to every rule.

It wasn't exactly a defection, though, as Stump was already loosely affiliated with Stewart-Haas, through the team's technical alliance with Hendrick.

"Hendrick Motorsports provided me a lot of opportunities to succeed and I wouldn't be in this position if it weren't for Rick Hendrick, Ray Evernham and all the talented people I've worked with the last 18 years," Stump said. "I'm proud of my time there, but I'm looking forward to my new role at Stewart-Haas. This is a team that's accomplished a lot in a very short period of time. There's a championship to defend and races to win. I'm ready to go."

"Rex brings a tremendous amount of knowledge and innovation to Stewart-Haas Racing," said Greg Zipadelli, vice president of competition, Stewart-Haas Racing. "You can never sit still in this business, and Rex's record of success will help us stay ahead of the curve."