Blaney thrilled with crew-chief change.

Dave Blaney is smiling these days because he got his wish. Last November, the driver of the #77 Jasper Engines and Transmissions Ford Team welcomed his new crew chief aboard. And, it was a familiar face.

When the position came open, Dave Blaney lobbied for his old friend, Robert "Bootie" Barker. The two had worked together at Bill Davis Racing. A number of conversations later between Blaney and team owner Mark Harrah, and Barker was coming aboard.

"Every guy in my position wants to compete against the best, and this opportunity to work with the Jasper team and Dave gave me the platform to race against the best in the world every week in the Winston Cup Series," said Barker, who had served as crew chief for Scott Wimmer's NASCAR Busch Series team. "People say it all the time in positive situations, but it really is a dream come true for me. I've worked with Dave before, and we had success right from the start, so I know our communication and our ideas about the cars are on a similar level."

Barker's challenge is made more unique by the fact that he moves through the highly industrial Winston Cup Series environment in a wheelchair, the by-product of an accident at age 17 that left him paralysed from the waist down.

"To be real honest, I've never talked with him about why he's in a wheel chair," Harrah said. "He is sensitive to talking about it. He doesn't want to be treated any differently than anybody else, and that's the way I treat him. I've not seen one thing that is a chore to him to get done, that anyone else couldn't get done. We watched him the last half of the season, kept a close eye on him, and we were really impressed, winning four of the last eight races was pretty impressive to us."

Barker and Blaney have been impressive so far this season. The #77 team is 15th in points after the first four races with a pair of top-10 finishes.