Pit Crew for Robby Gordon Pockets Third Win of Season:
May 7, 2004 at 12:00 AM
For the second straight week and third time of the season, the pit crew for Robby Gordon claimed top honors in the McDonald’s Drive-Thru Pit Championship fueled by POWERade. Gordon’s crew became the season’s first three-time winner of the competition by scoring the best pit road time at last week’s Auto Club 500 at California Speedway in Fontana. The other wins for the No. 31 crew were the week before in Talladega and March 14 in Atlanta. The three victories have earned Gordon’s crew $60,000. The McDonald’s/POWERade weekly competition pays $20,000 for an event victory and a bonus of $200,000 to the season pit crew champion. Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s pit crew continues to lead in the standings with 382 points. Kurt Busch’s crew is second with 360. Gordon’s crew is 10th with 321. Gordon’s Cingular Wireless Chevrolet spent 213.700 seconds on pit road in the California race, edging Joe Nemechek’s U.S. Army Chevrolet by less than a second (214.423). Ken Schrader’s No. 49 Schwan’s Home Service Dodge was third with a time of 215.555. “I knew the Cingular Wireless pit crew had to be in strong contention after having another phenomenal performance in California,” said Chris Andrews, crew chief of the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing team. “We made two pit stops within the first 60 laps of the race. After that second stop, we had gained 15 positions from where we had started and I know at least eight of the 15 were obtained on pit road.” Gordon was equally complimentary of the No. 31 crew. “There are so many factors that affect how a team is going to finish a race and pit performance is one factor that definitely plays a huge role,” said Gordon. “Our finishes are finally starting to show what Team Cingular is capable of and I do attribute a lot of that to my guys on pit road.” Gordon’s over-the-wall crew consists of: Ira-Jo Hussey (front-tire changer), Kevin Nervegna (front-tire carrier), Timmy Ladyga (rear-tire changer), Matt Kreuter (rear-tire carrier), Ron Liddell (gas man), Mike Moore (jackman) and Coy Hedrick (catch can).(DMD Communications PR), for the top 10 at California and the season standings, see my Pit Crew News page.(5-7-2004)
