Kaulig Racing has made changes to its crew chief lineup ahead of the Xfinity Series race at Michigan International Speedway.
According to the Kaulig Racing weekly preview, Kevin Walter will move from the No. 11 team and Josh Williams to the No. 97 team. He will guide Shane van Gisbergen as the New Zealand native takes on Michigan for the first time in his NASCAR career.
Eddie Pardue will take over the No. 11 team heading to Michigan as he tries to help Williams reach the playoffs for the first time in his Xfinity career.
Bruce Schlicker, who previously served as van Gisbergen's crew chief, left the organization before the return to competition.
"I want to be very respectful when I talk about this," Kaulig President Chris Rice told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Wednesday. "I'm very proud of Bruce Schlicker, which was a crew chief on the 97, been with us since he started crew chief-ing about four years ago, back when we had Ross Chastain running full time.
"So I'm very proud of Bruce Schlicker for what he has done, what he's done with us, and the decision he made. Bruce decided to retire immediately for things -- he needed to go back home. He needed to go back to West Virginia for his family and I'm very proud of him for putting his family first."
Schlicker and van Gisbergen won three races together this season -- Portland, Sonoma, and Chicago.
Schlicker has been with Kaulig Racing since the 2020 season. He has celebrated seven wins with three other drivers -- one with Jeb Burton, five with AJ Allmendinger, and one with Chandler Smith.
Walter is currently in his first season as an Xfinity crew chief. He has been with Williams since the start of the season, and he has guided the veteran driver to three top-10 finishes. Now, he will join forces with van Gisbergen while trying to prepare for the playoffs.
Pardue, for comparison, has been a crew chief in all three series. This includes the 1998 season when he was the crew chief for Elton Sawyer, who is now NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition.
Pardue has celebrated three Xfinity wins in 338 races -- two with Greg Biffle and one with Matt Kenseth. He also guided Allmendinger to a top-10 finish in this season's Cup race at Circuit of the Americas.
"We had Kevin Walter in the fold and the cool thing about that, he's been around SVG all year," Rice said. "He knows the system, so he's going to move over to SVG, Kevin Walter from the 11 car.
"We are very fortunate to have Eddie Pardue, who has been with us for quite a while, been around the sport forever. And he's going to come and crew chief the 11 car for Josh Williams and try to make it tick up a couple of notches and maybe get it into the playoffs over the next six races."