Montoya, Sorenson swap crew chiefs

Montoya will work alongside Jimmy Elledge, who has been the only crew chief Sorenson has had in his Cup career.

Elledge, who is married to Dale Earnhardt Jr's sister and manager Kelley, has been working at Ganassi since 2003, when he served as crew chief for Casey Mears before switching to Sorenson's No. 41 team in 2006.

Meanwhile Montoya's former crew chief Donnie Wingo will start work with Sorenson at Talladega.

"I really feel that these changes can be instrumental in moving Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates to the next level," Chip Ganassi said in a statement. "I have a lot of respect for both Donnie and Jimmy and the jobs that they do and they both agree that this move can be very beneficial to the entire organization."

The change comes after Ganassi was openly critical of two of the three teams of his Sprint Cup series squad, following Dario Franchitti's non-qualification at Texas two weeks ago.

Despite a strong start to the season for Sorenson, who was fifth in the Daytona 500, his recent trend of results have dropped him down to 31st position in the points, while Montoya, who started the season in 32nd, has already climbed up to 17th in the driver standings.

"I have said all along that I believe us to be a championship organization and that Felix and I will do whatever we can to make us better," Ganassi said. "This is toward that end."

No changes were announced for Dario Franchitti's team, which remains outside the top 35 in the owners' standing.