The level of competition in TF has risen significantly in the last year. The fields are as tight or tighter than they have ever been. When 20+ cars enter and only 16 can qualify, someone is going to be on the outside at every race. If either DSR, Kalitta, AJR or any other team had 20 cars all to themselves, guess what, 4 cars are not going to qualify. This makes it extremely hard for a multi-car or a single car team to qualify at every race. Yes, the big teams have a slight advantage when it comes to this. But on the flip side, a single car team has only one focus. That focus is on one car and one car only. Sometimes that helps, other times it hurts.
If a crew chief has talent, he will land on his feet. It's just a matter of the fit with any particular team. It's hard to have a perfect dynamic on every team, but that is what is strived for. Those who have it win championships. When they lose some or all of that dynamic, they begin to struggle. A crew chief coming to a new team may excell for a bit because everyone is gung-ho to win. But after a year maybe some guys leave or others begin to get disgruntled over something and it begins to show in the performance. Its how you manage it that matters. It's been that way forever and it probably isn't going to change anytime soon.