Denny Hamlin’s seven-member team changed four tires, put in gas and pushed the car 40 yards in 23.132 seconds to edge defending champion #31-Jeff Burton’s crew and collect $70,650 winning the NASCAR’s Pit Crew Challenge. Hamlin’s crew chief Mike Ford said they’d take the first pit stall for Saturday’s All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a perk for winning this single-elimination competition. The #11 team beat #88-Dale Earnhardt’s crew in the semifinals, ending Hendrick Motorsports’ best showing in the event. The Burton team routed #39-Ryan Newman’s crew to reach its second straight final. Hamlin’s team includes gas man Scott Woods; catch-can man John Eicher; front tire changer Mike Hicks and carrier Brandon Pegram; rear tire changer Jon Sherman and carrier Heath Cherry; and jack man Nate Bolling.
Driver #18-Kyle Busch’s front tire changer Nick Odell and carrier Brad Donaghy headlined the individual awards timed in the opening rounds with an event-record 13.903 seconds. Other winners, who collected $10,000 for each competition, were rear tire changer Dustin Necaise and carrier Matt Kreuter (14.322 seconds) of Clint Bowyer’s #33 team; Bolling of Hamlin’s crew (5.573 seconds); and gas man Brad Pickens and catch-can man Travis Gordon of Mark Martin’s #5 car (10.518 seconds).
The competition included the top 24 crews in the Sprint Cup standings, with the top eight getting a bye into the second round. Teams faced each other in head-to-head stops. There were eight identically marked cars, four on each side of the arena floor. Teams simultaneously changed tires on two cars, filled the gas tank with water on another and a jack man lifted both sides of the fourth car. The jack men then ran to the teams’ regular cars, lined up side-by-side at the corner of the arena floor, and pushed them to the finish as teammates joined to help after their tasks.
Teams received time penalties for loose lug nuts, spilled gas and other infractions, and that led to an early upset. A 3-second penalty for a loose lug nut knocked top-seeded Busch’s #18 team out in the second round and allowed the #71 team of driver Bobby Labonte, which has been strapped for funding much of the season, to advance. The #71 crew was beaten in the quarterfinals by Earnhardt’s team. Jeff Gordon’s team was ousted in the quarterfinals by Newman’s crew, thanks to a loose lug nut. Newman’s crew also beat Jimmie Johnson’s #48 team, which has never won the event.(ESPN), see links to results on my 2010 Pit Crew News page.(5-19-2010)
