Crew Chief Jimmy Elledge, who helped guide the racing careers of Casey Mears, Jamie McMurray, Reed Sorenson, and the past month, Juan Pablo Montoya, has been dismissed from Ganassi Racing after a heated argument with competition director Steve Hmiel (formerly of Dale Earnhardt, Inc.)

Elledge’s dismissal leads Montoya to have his third crew chief in a month with Brian Pattie taking over.

Montoya expressed his displeasure with the dismissal of Elledge after he qualified next to last in this Sunday’s Coca-Cola 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

Chip Ganassi said:

We had an employee step over the line, and I’m sorry it happened because I like Jimmy personally, but it had to be done. I know Juan is upset and he comes out on the short end of this deal. I apologize for that, but unfortunately it was unavoidable collateral damage.

Elledge is (or was) married to Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s sister, Kelley and together they have two children, Karsyn and Kennedy.

(Photo by Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)