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CUP: Johnson To Use Gordon’s Pit Crew In Final Two Races
Jimmie Johnson is second in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings with a pair of races left...
Mike Hembree  |  Posted November 08, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Members of Jeff Gordon's pit crew service teammate Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 car at Texas Motor Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)
So, Phoenix, what you got?

After a tumultuous Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway in the eighth race of the Chase, Phoenix International Raceway has a tough act to follow in this weekend’s Kobalt Tools 500 (kilometers).

Texas had cars crashing, drivers scuffling, tempers rising, pit crews stumbling, a Busch burning, leaders slipping and sliding and Denny Hamlin winning and taking over the point lead.

Now the stage lights shine brightly on PIR, a one-mile track that is as different as night and day from TMS, where high speed is a common denominator. At Phoenix, it’s more about nuance and strategy, and Jimmie Johnson has plenty of that.

Or does he?

Johnson has a tremendous record at PIR, having won the past three Chase races at the track. But Johnson will be driving under some uncertainty this week as his pit crew situation continues to evolve.

After the 48 pit crew performed poorly in the first half of Sunday’s race, crew chief Chad Knaus called on teammate Jeff Gordon's crew to fill in for the No. 48 crewmen mid-race.

That move worked well enough to convince officials at Hendrick to leave the 24 team’s seven over-the-wall crewmen with the 48 team for the rest of the season. Johnson’s regular pit crew will switch to Gordon’s team for the final two races.

Hendrick Motorsports made the announcement of the pit crew switch late Monday afternoon. No other positions on the two teams will be affected.

Knaus and Steve Letarte, Gordon’s crew chief, are scheduled to discuss the change with media representatives at the team shop Tuesday morning.
Jimmie Johnson (Left) and crew chief Chad Knaus (Right) confer at Texas Motor Speedway over the weekend. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Although Johnson’s Phoenix record is splendid – nine top-five runs in 14 races, the uncertainty over the crew situation might negate some of any advantage he might carry into the weekend.

Hamlin, the new point leader, hasn’t won in 10 races at the track, but he has finished in the top five five times, and top-five runs in the season’s final two races might be all he needs to take home his first championship.

Hamlin leads Johnson by 33 points entering Sunday’s race.

The road is even rougher for third-place Kevin Harvick, who rallied late at Texas to avoid a sour finish but enters Phoenix 59 points behind Hamlin.

Harvick has won twice at PIR.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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