Casey Mears’ over-the-wall crew captured its first Checkers/Rally’s Double Drive-Thru Challenge win of the season by taking top honors in Saturday night’s Nextel Cup race at Daytona International Speedway. The #25 National Guard/GMAC team spent 132.049 seconds on pit lane. The crew will be awarded $11,000 by Checkers/Rally’s for winning the weekly competition. Mears’ crew is the 10th different team to win the pit crew competition this season. The #25 Hendrick Motorsports team is made up of: Jason Hunt (jackman), Ben Fischbeck (front-tire carrier), Tony Hamm (front-tire changer), Matt Myers (rear-tire carrier), Chuck Efaw (rear-tire changer), Chris Fasulka (gasman), Chris Hamilton (catch can) and Jim Jenkins (eighth-man). The team’s pit crew coach is Mark Mauldin. At the halfway mark of the 2007 Nextel Cup season, Mark Martin’s/Regan Smith’s #01 crew leads the season-long Checkers/Rally’s Double Drive-Thru Challenge standings with four wins. Jeff Gordon’s and Denny Hamlin’s crews are second with three wins each. To date, Checkers/Rally’s has paid out $198,000 to Nextel Cup pit crews. An $111,150 prize will be presented to the pit crew team with the most wins at the completion of the 36-race Nextel Cup schedule. To win the Checkers/Rally’s Double Drive-Thru Challenge, teams are required to finish on the lead lap while spending the least amount of time on pit road. Checkers/Rally’s is in its third season as title sponsor for the Pit Crew Challenge. Checkers/Rally’s is the Official Burger and Drive-Thru Restaurant of NASCAR, more info at checkers.com.(DMF Communications PR)(7-12-2007)
