The top crew chiefs in Nextel Cup racing will trade their wrenches for driving suits during the inaugural Kobalt Tools Crew Chief Race Saturday night, May 19, at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. The event will be the featured pre-race entertainment for the Nextel All-Star Challenge. Utilizing Thunder Roadsters manufactured by 600 Racing and decaled to replicate the paint schemes of the Nextel Cup cars they oversee, the crew chiefs will compete in a 30-minute racing program that will include two qualifying heats and a feature race. The racing action will take place on the speedway’s quarter-mile oval, located on the frontstretch of the 1.5-mile superspeedway, and will be televised by SPEED Channel. “NASCAR RaceDay All-Star Edition,” which includes live coverage of the Kobalt Tools Crew Chief Race, will begin at 4:00pm/et and will be on the air for three hours leading up to coverage of the Nextel All-Star Challenge. Car# Crew Chief, Sponsor/Team, Charity 1 Kevin “Bono” Manion, Bass Pro Shops/Dale Earnhardt, Inc., Dale Earnhardt Foundation 3 Kirk Shelmerdine, SPEED Channel, Victory Junction Gang Camp 5 Alan Gustafson, Kellogg’s/Hendrick Motorsports, Hendrick Marrow Program 8 Brandon Blake, Budweiser/Dale Earnhardt, Inc., Dale Earnhardt Foundation 11 Jeff Hammond, SPEED Channel, Speedway Children’s Charities 19 Ray Evernham, Dodge Dealers-UAW/Evernham Motorsports, Racing for a Reason 24 Steve Letarte, Dupont/Hendrick Motorsports, Jeff Gordon Foundation 25 Darian Grubb, National Guard/Hendrick Motorsports, Hendrick Marrow Program 29 Scott “Flash” Naset, Shell-Pennzoil/Richard Childress Racing, Victory Junction Gang Camp 31 Scott Miller, Cingular/Richard Childress Racing, Humane Society of Iredell County 33 Andy Petree, ESPN, Motor Racing Outreach/Mud Creek Baptist Church 40 Steve Lane, Coor’s Light/Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, St. Judes Research Hospital 41 Jimmy Elledge, Target/Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Target House 43 Paul Andrews, Cheerio’s/Petty Racing, Victory Junction Gang Camp 45 Billy Wilburn, Coca-Cola/Petty Racing, Victory Junction Gang Camp 48 Chad Knaus, Lowe’s/Hendrick Motorsports, Jimmie Johnson Foundation 66 Harold Holly, Best Buy/Haas CNC, TBA 07 Gil Martin, Jack Daniel’s/Richard Childress Racing, St. Judes Research Hospital (LMS PR) The race was won by #33-Andy Petree, with #48-Chad Knaus finishing 2nd. Petree also won the 1st heat race and #29-Scott Naset won the 2nd heat.(LMS PR)(5-19-2007)
