Things have been quite different for Matt Borland the past couple of days, but in a way it has had a familiar feel to it.

Borland started work last Thursday at Michael Waltrip Racing, and on Friday the team announced that he will be crew chief for the No. 44 Toyotas driven by Dale Jarrett beginning with the 2007 Daytona 500.

“Starting with a new manufacturer and a new team is a big undertaking in NASCAR these days,” said Borland, who left Ryan Newman’s No. 12 Dodge team Penske Racing to join Waltrip’s three-car Nextel Cup operation.

“But it feels sort of like when we started the team at Penske in a truck bay in the corner of the shop. There are a thousand things to do, but it feels good to do that again. It’s going to be fun.”

Borland, 35, helped Newman win rookie of the year in 2002 and the team won 12 races and was in the top 10 in the final standings in each of its first four seasons.

But Newman finished 18th this year with no victories and just two top-five finishes. Borland took a leave for the final two races of 2006, with Mike Nelson working as crew chief. Nelson was officially named crew chief for Newman in 2007 earlier this week.

“We definitely were not having the success we needed to have,” Borland said of his final season with Newman.

“It was nobody’s fault in particular, we just were not getting it done. We started off the year and never got it to where we were running like we were used to. We never hit on a package that worked for us.”

Borland said it was a tough decision to leave the team he’s been with since he came to stock-car racing as an engineer in 1999 after working in what is now the ChampCar series and for Pi Research and General Motors.

“It is sad to leave those guys. They’re a great group and I will really miss them,” Borland said.

Jarrett, who won the Cup championship in the year Borland came to stock cars, just ended a 12-year tenure at Robert Yates Racing. He won 29 of his 32 career victories with the Yates team, winning his championship driving the No. 88 Fords.

“Dale expressed his ideal crew chief was someone like Matt Borland,” Waltrip said. “We were actually able to deliver Matt. His spirit and determination will permeate throughout our shop.”

David Hyder will be crew chief for Waltrip and his No. 55 team in 2007, while Larry Carter will be on the No. 00 Toyotas driven by David Reutimann.