New crew chief for #96.

Hall of Fame Racing has confirmed that Steve Boyer will take over as crew chief for JJ Yeley on the #96 DLP HDTV Toyota Camry, beginning with the Goody's Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville next weekend.

Boyer, who has worked within the engineering department at HoFR since December 2007, takes over for Brandon Thomas, who had served as crew chief since October 2006.

"Steve has earned the respect and trust of JJ and the team in his short tenure here, and [co-owner] Jeff [Moorad] and I are looking forward to having him in a more significant leadership role," admitted Tom Garfinkel, "He has a tremendous amount of experience that will be valuable to JJ, Hall of Fame Racing and the #96 DLP HDTV Toyota."

Boyer is no stranger to the top of the pit box, as he was Sterling Marlin's crew chief at Chip Ganassi Racing for the last six races of 2004 and the entire 2005 Cup Series campaign. Last year, he served as crew chief for Ganassi driver Scott Lagasse Jr in four ARCA/REMAX Series races, where the duo scored three top-five finishes highlighted by a win at Kansas Speedway. Boyer also served as crew chief for driver Bryan Clauson in the ARCA race at USA Speedway in Lakeland, where he guided the development driver to a strong second-place finish.

"I'm excited for the opportunity to work with JJ and the #96 DLP HDTV Toyota," Boyer said, "We've got a great group of people at Hall of Fame Racing and we plan on making the DLP car a contender every week."

In addition to his crew chief duties, Boyer has worked in a variety of roles while at Ganassi between January 2001 and December 2007. He served as race engineer in the Cup Series with Jason Leffler in 2001 and Marlin from 2002 to 2004. From 2006 to 2007, he led the Car of Tomorrow research initiative and served as the team's senior group leader, where he oversaw all technical innovation while working with the driver development programs of Juan Pablo Montoya, Lagasse and Clauson. Boyer also served as interim team manager at Ganassi from April to September 2006.