By alley - Jun 19, 2017, 4:57 PM ET

Ex-Suarez crew chief lands new JGR role

Dave Rogers will not return to his role as crew chief of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota as the company announced Monday he has a new position.

Rogers is now the technical director of the Joe Gibbs Racing Xfinity Series program.

"I really appreciate the support I've received over the past couple of months allowing me to take care of what I needed to in my personal life," Rogers said in a team release. "This position really excites me and I'm looking forward to working closely with Steve (deSouza, JGR executive vice president), our crew chiefs and everyone in our Xfinity Series shop on all aspects of competition."

In March, Rogers took an unexpected leave of absence from the team before the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway. As crew chief of the No. 19 team, Rogers was less than two months into working with rookie driver Daniel Suarez. In their first five races, Rogers and Suarez earned two top-10 finishes.

A full-time Cup Series crew chief with Joe Gibbs Racing since 2010, Rogers has 18 career wins and 271 starts. Last November, Rogers and Carl Edwards were in control of the Cup Series championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway before Edwards was involved in an accident with 10 laps to go.

In his new role, Rogers will oversee the No. 18, No. 19 and No. 20 cars. The organization has four wins through the season's first 13 races.