Top McLaren engineer to join MWR

Hallam's decision to leave McLaren for a role in NASCAR was revealed at Monza last weekend, and autosport.com can reveal that he will join MWR, one of the youngest squads in the Sprint Cup.

MWR are currently in their second year at NASCAR's top level, fielding three Toyota Camry's for team owner Michael Waltrip, David Reutimann, and rookie Michael McDowell.

Besides Hallam's winning experience, he brings useful knowledge with him to help develop the team's Sprint Cup machines. The new generation of Cup cars have a front suspension design that uses bump stops, or packers, which are still relatively new in NASCAR but have been used and developed for a long time in Formula One.

The Briton is the latest open-wheel engineer to join the team this year. Earlier this season, MWR hired former IRL race engineer Bill Pappas, who worked alongside Juan Pablo Montoya at Chip Ganassi Racing when they won the Indianapolis 500 at their first attempt.

Pappas worked as the crew chief for Dale Jarrett and Michael McDowell, and was later named as MWR's head of engineering. However, he will not return with the team next year.

All three MWR cars are currently in the top-35 in the owner standings, while their best result thus far was the second place claimed by Waltrip in a rain-shortened event at Loudon in June. Reutimann also recently claimed two consecutive top-ten finishes at California and Richmond.

The team's Nationwide series cars were among the most powerful in a dyno test performed by NASCAR nearly two months ago.

Last year, 43-year-old billionaire Robbie Kauffman bought a 50 per cent stake in the team and while results have improved this year, they're still searching for sponsors as they are set to loose their UPS backing at the end of the season to Roush Fenway Racing.