Story by: Langley Austin ~ [email protected]

Salisbury, NC(December 31, 2010) — When news broke that Brennan Poole was parting ways with Fat Head Racing, many began to wonder what the team was going to do to keep their team moving forward.

After all, Poole became the first development driver to win a race for Jamie Yelton’s Fat Head Racing team despite talented drivers such as Steven Wallace, Paddy Rodenbeck, Thomas Hartensveld, Matt DiBenedetto, Clay Greenfield and more having competed in one of their cars in atleast one race. Poole’s departure left room for a couple of new drivers for Fat Head Racing as the team had already been planning an expansion.

Poole’s departure also left a dent in the teams crew chief department as the young Texas native took veteran crew chief, David King, who had been with Fat Head Racing for many years, with him to his new venture. That left many people wondering what Fat Head Racing and team owner, Yelton would do to resurrect his team and maybe even make it better than it has been. Making the team better will no doubt prove to be a huge task, but Yelton’s been making some off-season moves that will no doubt align his team for more success in the coming season and beyond.

Yelton, after signing Australian born, George Miedecke as a part time driver for a few races toward the end of last season, saw instant success with Miedecke winning in two of three starts at Tri-County and Hickory. Yelton would bring in former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race winning crew chief, Lee McCall to help lead Miedecke at the end of the season. McCall and Miedecke hit it off from the start and with the success of the Australian driver shining brightly, Yelton began to work on McCall to become his full-time crew chief for the 2011 season.

McCall’s connection with Miedecke is impressive with a short time to work together, but even more impressive is the resume that the veteran crew chief brings to Fat Head Racing. McCall’s stats in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is impressive enough as he racked up 17 victories including a Daytona 500 trophy. McCall led the points in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2002 with driver Sterling Marlin, until the Tennessee driver was sidelined with an injury. He then in just two races helped lead replacement driver, Jamie McMurray to his first ever NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory.

After returning to Late Model Stock Car racing following his successful stint in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series(where he has two wins), McCall helped lead, Marty Ward to the track championship at Greenville Pickens Speedway. Ward also finished third in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National Championship Standings that season and his 13 wins brought McCall’s total wins as a Late Model crew chief to 38.

McCall is certainly looking to add to that total this season with Fat Head Racing and driver, George Miedecke as he tries to continue his legacy in Late Model Stock Car racing.

“I’m looking forward to this season with Jamie(Yelton) and all the guys at Fat Head Racing,” said McCall. “Working with George(Miedecke) there at the end of the season showed me the kind of driver he is and I think he’s going to be better this season than people may think.”

McCall’s not the only high profile crew chief whose making his way to Fat Head Racing for the 2011 season. With Ronnie Bassett, Jr. coming over to join Yelton’s stables after spending his rookie season driving for his own family owned operation, Yelton knew he needed another big time crew chief to help lead the young driver in the right direction. Yelton’s search had him taking a look at several crew chiefs, who had begun making a name for themselves, but as his search went on, one name kept popping up over and over.

Nick Hutchins has spent the last three and half seasons bouncing around between some of the best young drivers in all of Late Model Stock Car racing. First, he helped lead Jake Crum to not only his first win during their first official race together, but proved it wasn’t a fluke the next season by backing that up with three more wins and the UARA-STARS Series championship. Following a falling out with Crum at the end of the season, Hutchins took the high profile job as Brandon McReynolds, son of NASCAR on Fox Analyst, Larry McReynolds, crew chief as the young driver embarked on his second season in Late Model Stock Car racing.

That pairing went off without a hitch as the young McReynolds won a handful of races and even finished second at Martinsville Speedway in the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300, the biggest Late Model Stock Car race of all. McReynolds also overcame a huge deficit in points after blowing several engines as the seasons start to finish third in points to veteran drivers Matt McCall and Jamey Caudill. Hutchins was hoping to stay with McReynolds and even possibly move up to another division with him, but when plans for a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series ride was scrapped for the young driver, Hutchins was left looking for a place to go.

The next move was one that Hutchins was hoping would be one for him to make a home after thinking he had found a home with McReynolds. Hutchins moved over into another maybe even more high profile role as crew chief for Kyle Grissom, son of former NASCAR Nationwide Series champion, Steve Grissom. It was a move that looked good from the start, but turned out to not be that fruitful as the pairing was only able to rack up four poles and a single win, but did manage to finish third in the UARA-STARS Series points standings.

Hutchins left the Grissom team just before the final races of the season and returned to assume a crew chief role for McReynolds. In just two starts, the two appeared to return almost immediately to form as they picked up one win at Rockingham Speedway and made the field for the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300 at Martinsville Speedway out of 80 plus cars going for 42 positions. Again, Hutchins thought that maybe he and McReynolds were back together for a while and maybe that it would lead to something else, but that move was short lived as he was left without a job once again after winning at Rockingham.

The young, but experienced crew chief was once again fielding offers from drivers and teams around the Late Model Stock Car community as well as some other divisions. Hutchins however had been talking back and forth with Yelton for a while as the two have been friends over the years and it began to grow into something more. Hutchins without a job, began looking at Yelton’s operation a little harder and Yelton began courting Hutchins to become the crew chief for Ronnie Bassett, Jr., who had silently been on the move to Yelton’s team.

“We have talked about me coming to work for Jamie(Yelton) for a while,” said Hutchins. “I knew he had a good program, I mean really Fat Head Racing is the Hendrick Motorsports of Late Model Stock Car racing. Of course, I was still weighing my options, but when I found out that Ronnie(Bassett) was the driver he wanted me to work with, it was on.”

Hutchins decided to make the move to Fat Head Racing once he found out that Bassett was coming over and he’d have the chance to work with such a young talent.

“Ronnie has shown that he’s a good little driver over the last season or so,” commented Hutchins. “He certainly showed last year that despite some mid-pack qualifying efforts, he had one of the best cars toward the end of a lot of races. I’m looking forward to working with him and all the guys at Fat Head Racing.”

Hutchins is now hoping that this will become a long term opportunity for him with Fat Head Racing as does team owner, Jamie Yelton.

“I’m excited that we were able to get Nick(Hutchins) to come over here and join FHR,” said Yelton. “Nick’s certainly proved he’s one of the best young crew chiefs out there and I’m interested to see how well he and (Ronnie)Bassett work together.”

“I’m glad to get the chance to work at FHR,” continued Hutchins. “It’s a great program and they certainly know how to win races. This deals going to be different too, now I don’t have to be a one-man show every day in the shop and it will let me focus more on setups and strategy.”

There’s no doubt that Fat Head Racing has proven itself as a power house in Late Model Stock Car racing over the last three seasons as Yelton and his gang has built one of the best driver development programs, but with the addition of Lee McCall and Nick Hutchins, it’s almost certain that his program will get stronger. That’s not to mention the addition of Matt McCall(no relation to Lee), who came on board as not only a driver with Fat Head Racing, but also lending his knowledge to help the crew chiefs and the organization as a whole.

With Brennan Poole and David King gone from Fat Head Racing, there was certainly room for doubts and certainly there were critics out there, who thought the team would fade into the night, but with two new high profile crew chiefs as well as new cars and even more improvements, it’s obvious that Fat Head Racing is here to stay.