#56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. will make more than 200 pit stops during the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, but he served as crew chief for one of the most memorable pit stops of his career on Thursday in Richmond, VA. Truex Jr. visited Carroll’s Auto Services in Richmond to supervise the pit stop for the Nanette Smith family whose car had fallen out of repair. Truex and the shop employees put on new NAPA brakes and made some general repairs to the 10-year-old vehicle. Smith, 48, is waging a six-year battle with breast cancer and the accompanying radiation and chemotherapy treatments while she and husband Lee raise their two teenagers. During the day, she’s a hospice worker helping families deal with the emotions of illness â something she’s learned to master through her own experience. Even with an incredible attitude and good medical coverage, Smith and her husband Lee admit the out-of-pocket expenses to fight cancer “cost a small fortune.” The money the Smiths would have spent on Thursday’s work can now go toward paying some of the bills that Smith said, “don’t stop coming just because you have cancer.” That wasn’t lost on Truex. “They may have it rough right now but they are rich when it comes to attitude,” said Truex, who will host the Smiths in his pit before Saturday night’s race. Thursday’s pit stop for the Smith family will be the first of about 56 similar events in Richmond kicking off the NAPA KNOWS HOW TO CARE program that runs through October. Richmond NAPA AutoCare Centers will accept nominations from customers of deserving families or organizations that could use a brake repair and vehicle tune up similar to the work done for the Smiths.(MWR)(9-10-2011)
