Joe Garone, a native of Hickory, N.C., returned to a crew chief's role at PPI Motorsports in 2001 after overseeing the creation of Cal Wells III's team based in Garone's hometown that grew from a one-car operation to a two-car team in one season. Garone, 40, worked for four years with PPI's second crew chief, Mike Beam, at Bill Elliott Racing. He also spent six years working as crew chief for veteran Rick Carelli in the Featherlite Southwest, Winston West and Craftsman Truck Series.