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Small, an Australia native, previously worked
as the lead engineer for Truex's No. 19 Toyota Camry team.
The 36-year-old replaces Cole Pearn, who announced his departure
last week to spend more time with his family.
"This is an incredible opportunity," Small said in a media
release from the Gibbs organization. "Having the confidence of
Coach (team owner Gibbs), Martin and everyone at JGR means a lot
to me.
"I moved to the United States six years ago to work in NASCAR
and I wanted to work my way up to become a crew chief. I'm ready
for this and I am excited about working with Martin and the
foundation we have in place on the 19 team with the group of
guys we have."
Truex said in a release that he is happy to have Small as
Pearn's repleacement.
"I know James well and feel very comfortable with him. I feel
like we approach racing very similar," he said. "He and Cole
have a lot of similarities. It's a natural fit and I'm really
excited about it. I think he'll do a great job."
Pearn served as crew chief for Truex for the past five seasons,
first with the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota and then with
the No. 19 Toyota when the duo moved to Joe Gibbs Racing after
Furniture Row closed shop following the 2018 season.
Their crowning moment came at the season-ending race in
Homestead, Fla., in 2017, when they won the race and took home
the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship.
Pearn, 37, expanded on his reasoning in an interview on SiriusXM
NASCAR Radio last week.
"Everybody in the sport understands the grind of what the
schedule is," Pearn said. "To do it at the top level, you got to
be all the way in. I was somehow making it work with my family
until my kids got in school and once they're in school and you
have a day off on a Thursday, it doesn't really matter. You
pretty much go all week and you barely see 'em.
"I didn't want to look back at my life and miss those moments.
For me to get the opportunity to work in racing has been just a
dream come true and then to have the success we've had just
blows my mind. When you've achieved more than you've ever
dreamt, you look at the other things in your life that you've
been missing. I just felt like it was time."
--Field Level Media
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