When the caution flag waved with five laps to go in the Dodge Charger 500, every crew chief was left with a few split seconds to decide what course of action to take for the ensuing shoot out. In the end, Doug Richert, crew chief of the #16 National Guard/Travel Lodge Ford, proved to have the superior game plan. He sacrificed Greg Biffle’s second-place position in the running order to take four fresh tires for the remaining green flag laps. Biffle used his fresh rubber to blitz past the three cars ahead of him on the restart, cruising all the way to Victory Lane. Richert’s strategy brought him his third Wypall Wipers Crew Chief of the Race award. Earlier this season at Bristol Motor Speedway, Richert let a probable win slip away by not pitting for tires after a late-race caution. Just the opposite happened today when the leader, #12-Ryan Newman, elected to stay on the track during the last caution period and watched Biffle and company all dive down pit lane. “Taking four tires for the last green flag seemed like a no brainer, even with only a few laps left,” said Richert following the race. “I know exactly what the 12 car was feeling like when we all ducked in behind him. It’s just like what happened to us at Bristol, but it was definitely the right thing for us to do. The other right thing was our crew performed how we should all night. We were the first car off pit road that took four tires and that was as critical as anything.”
The panel of voters; including John Clayton of the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, a Wypall Wipers representative and Tony Eury Sr.; all thought Richert deserved top honors for executing a winning strategy. With his third Wypall Wipers Crew Chief of the Race award, Richert moves into first place of the Crew Chief Challenge standings. Robbie Loomis is in second place with two wins. Scott Miller, Bob Osborne, Alan Gustafson and Pete Rondeau are tied for third place, each with one win. At the end of the season, the crew chief with the most weekly wins will receive $20,000. Fan can also vote for their choice at wypall.com.(SMC 500)(5-9-2005)
