Story by: Langley Austin ~ langley@RACE22.com

Mooresville, NC(December 4, 2009) -- In January of this year the UARA "Dream Team" was born with Nick Hutchins, the 2008 UARA-STARS Series championship winning crew chief and Brandon McReynolds getting together to go for the UARA title.

Turn the page to the end of this UARA-STARS Series season and they didn't win the championship, but it was a long and winding road together that led to three UARA wins and a near miss in the biggest Late Model Stock Car race in the country at Martinsville Speedway, the Bailey's 300. That second place finish at Martinsville and the three UARA victories were the upside to a season that left the 'dream team' unsure if they were having nightmares or not.

The nightmares came early in the season as McReynolds and Hutchins suffered through the first handful of races with engine troubles that put them out of the championship hunt. Once that issue was solved McReynolds immediately ripped off a win in the first trip to Dillon Motor Speedway in late May and looked to be on the way to rebounding his season. Two more wins would come before the end of their 2009 campaign, but that would only be enough to finish third in points and not enough to keep the 'dream team' together for 2010.

Hutchins made it official today that he and McReynolds were splitting up as he delivered the news to McReynolds that he would be moving on. The move wasn't made because they had internal problems, but rather because the 2010 plans at Team McReynolds are still unknown and Hutchins needed to have some stability according to McReynolds.

"Nick's leaving us had nothing to do with communication between us," said McReynolds in a recent phone interview. "Our plans for 2010 aren't firm yet as we still haven't decided what I'm going to be racing next year and Nick felt like he needed something solid. I understand his decision, I just hate that after as well as we ran together, we're not going to try and build on that."

Hutchins agreed with McReynolds as neither one of them wanted to seperate, but for Hutchins it was time to move on because of job security.

"I left because they don't know for sure what they're doing next year and I needed a gaurantee, something they couldn't offer me," explained Hutchins. "It was a tough decision and I really wanted to work with Brandon again next year, I guess it just wasn't meant to be though."

Brandon's father, FOX Sports Analyst and former crew chief, Larry McReynolds has been very supportive of Hutchins this season and that was another thing that made it hard for him to move on.

"Larry(McReynolds) has been very supportive throughout this process, he and I have been very open with one another from the start," continued Hutchins. "He understood though and respected my decision and the way I handled it and that means a lot that we left on good terms."

For Hutchins the next step will be to make himself at home in his new job as Kyle Grissom's crew chief on the UARA-
 

STARS Series tour for 2010. Hutchins says that while a lot of people have talked to him since the end of the season, the Grissom opportunity just came about last week between the rained out Myrtle Beach 250 and the completion of the race.

"It wasn't until last Wednesday that I started talking to them and that I knew Kyle Grissom was even an option. I think Kyle's disciplined and focused and together we can be very strong heading into next year."

The opportunity with Grissom is one that Hutchins is looking forward to as he needed a stable opportunity as he is starting a family and plans to be married in January.

"I need goals set at the beginning of the season, that we can work to accomplish and there was no option of that with Brandon(McReynolds) at this point and with Kyle(Grissom) we've already started discussing that. We want to win the UARA-STARS Series championship and that's a big goal with the competition in this series and I think if we work together we can make it happen even in our first year together."

Hutchins said that while he's hoping that this won't be another one year deal, it's hard to make plans with a driver as he too is looking to move up and can't always take his crew chief with him.

"The deal with Brandon wasn't planned as a one-year deal and I hope this one isn't either, but the goal for Kyle is to move up and when he does he may not be able to take me with him and that's something I can completely understand. We want to win the UARA title and maybe get Kyle in some ARCA races as they already have an ARCA car and I think I'm ready to use the knowledge I've gained to move up to a bigger, heavier car," continued Hutchins.

Hutchins feels like he took Late Model Stock Car technology to another level this year at the UARA race at Ace Speedway, which McReynolds won and every race after they had incredible speed and were contenders to win including Martinsville.

"Ace was the turning point of the season, it turned out to be a great season and I'd love to get the chance to work with Brandon again if we can sometime in the future. I think that bringing this type of technology to Kyle's program will put him in another level and put us in position to win races week in and week out."

"I'm going to give him feels in cars he's never felt before, it's what he needs, he needs that extra push," continued Hutchins. "They're not low on connections and resources, I just think that what we hit on at Ace this year is exactly what he needs to take him to the next level in his driving and we're going to go to work as soon as possible getting him used to the feel of the setups we're going to run."

Hutchins said that he feels that Grissom was always there at the end of the races this year when they didn't have any issues and that he wants to bring him to the front at the beginning of the race. He also said that while having Grissom ready to jump in and work on his own car and change engines and such, what's he's hoping he brings to the table is letting Grissom focus on the task at hand.

"It's great to have a driver that doesn't mind getting in there and working with you, but I want to take that distraction away from Kyle and let him focus on driving the car and doing what he needs to do. They've got a good engine program with Tom Vigue at 3V Performance and I'm looking forward to sitting down with him and working to make our program as strong as it can be."

While Hutchins admits he can't do anything about the bad luck that has seemed to follow Grissom over the last year and half or so, he will work hard and prepare the right way.

"We're going to leave no stone unturned, we're going to prepare the way we need to, to be ready to win races and we'll just have to let the luck fall where it may," explained Hutchins. "Organized, prepared and with nothing left undone, that's the way we're going to approach every practice and every race to make sure we don't beat ourselves."

If the bad luck gets out of the way for 2010, Hutchins believes that he and Grissom can win the championship together and that is something he certainly knows how to do after winning the title with Jake Crum in 2008.

"(Jake)Crum proved that consistencty will get you the title, I mean we didn't win every race, we just finished every lap we could and that's what it takes to be in contention."

While it's undetermined what crew members Hutchins will be working with at this time, he knows he'll have the right group of people to get the job done properly. Hutchins also expects to test in the next couple of weeks if the weather cooperates so that he can get Grissom used to the feeling of his setups.

Grissom was unavailable for comment at press time, but Nick says they're both really excited about this deal and can't wait to get started.

"He's excited, I'm excited and I think we can take the momentum I had with Brandon at the end of the year and couple that with the strong runs he had at the end of the season and start building on our success right away," concluded Hutchins.

Certainly, Nick Hutchins is one of the most well known and respected names among crew chief's in the UARA and NASCAR Late Model Stock Car scene and as one person told me today during a phone conversation, he's the smartest. It's not looked at as the 'dream team' that Hutchins and McReynolds were, but Grissom could find himself as the leading man come the start of next season with Hutchins calling the shots.

For McReynolds, this leaves him with a void in the crew chief position, but as they work to get some ARCA and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races taken care of, the Late Model stuff is going to take a back seat.

"We have to kind of make the Late Model stuff the least of our worries as we have a bunch of meetings next week with sponsors and teams in the ARCA and Trucks," explained McReynolds. "While this is still pretty new, we'll probably talk to (Danny)O'Quinn or David Mercer and see if we can work with them for the four or so UARA races that we plan on running with the Late Model, but we'll have to wait and see what happens."