Technical director German leaving Penske Racing

The technical director of Penske Racing's NASCAR program is leaving the team at the end of the month to attend the Sloan School of Management at MIT.

Penske Racing said Wednesday that German would begin classes in June.

''Last fall, Tom came to us with interest in attending this elite graduate program. We supported him during this application process and he found out this spring that he had been accepted,'' said team spokesman Jonathan Gibson.

''We are thankful for all of his contributions to Penske and we are proud of Tom for being accepted to this elite school and wish him the best as he furthers his education at MIT.''

German was the focus of driver Kurt Busch's anger during his mid-race rant at Richmond two weeks ago. Busch alluded to behind-the-scenes changes at Penske last week, but declined to be more specific.

The team did not identify a replacement for German, who has spent 13 years with the Penske organization. He worked for Penske's IndyCar team for 10 years before moving to the NASCAR side before the 2009 season.