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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
ALL-STAR: Pit Crews Ready To Roll
The NASCAR crews will compete Wednesday night...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted May 19, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Members of Kyle Busch's Joe Gibbs Racing crew perform a pit stop during the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Pit Crew Challenge in Charlotte. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
The festivities for Sprint All-Star week kick off in a big way Wednesday night in Uptown Charlotte with the running of the annual NASCAR Sprint Pit Crew Challenge presented by Craftsman. The event begins at 7 p.m. ET at Bobcats Arena and SPEED will televise it on a tape-delayed basis starting at 9 p.m. ET.

The competition requires pit crews to jack their car, fill it with fuel, change four tires and then push it 40 yards. The fastest time without a mistake wins. The champion’s payout will be $70,675, with individual prizes of $10,000 each for specific crew categories.

And just to make it count a little more, this year the winning team will get first selection of pit stalls in Saturday night’s Sprint All-Star Race, which will be televised live on SPEED at 7 p.m.

Suffice to say, there will be a lot on the line tonight — cash, pit selection and the opportunity to earn bragging rights and show off in front of family and friends. Those factors make the Pit Crew Challenge a big deal.

Jeff Burton’s No. 31 Richard Childress Racing crew are the defending champions, but they’ll have plenty of competition from the other 23 crews entered in the event.

The No. 31 crew traveled to New York recently for an appearance on “FOX and Friends,” and it was an eye-opening experience, according to the crew.

“Living in North Carolina, you're in the country,” said Daniel Blizzard, Burton’s front-tire changer. “Then you go to New York and you're on top of the Empire State Building and you look down and see nothing but concrete. That was a little nuts.”

But it will be all business Wednesday night.
Alan Gustafson, crew chief for the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, says the car has to carry a lot of speed through the center of the corner to be fast at Kansas Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

“There is some pressure involved there, but I think it's a really cool venue for the guys to go showcase their talents and have the fans so close to them in the stands,” said Alan Gustafson, crew chief of Mark Martin’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. “It's a lot of fun, a really fun event.”

The key to success? Avoid mistakes — NASCAR officials check to make sure all the lug nuts are tight and the fuel can is empty. Make a mistake and NASCAR will assess a time penalty, which can make the difference between winning and losing.

“No matter how fast you are, if you’re getting docked three seconds for a mistake, you can never make that up,” said Mike Metcalf, gas man for the No. 83 Red Bull Racing Toyota of Brian Vickers, the winning team from 2008.

“Everything is so competitive,” said Metcalf. “As far as the push, it’s all about the jack man and the fuelers getting to the car. Whoever gets it rolling first usually wins. It’s all about getting the car rolling.”

So, it’s game on for the pit crews tonight.


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