Stewart’s Crew Grabs Tissot Pit Road Win
Stewart's Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet Impala SS spent the least amount of time on pit road (260.940 seconds) during the 250 lap, 500-mile race at Auto Club Speedway. The winning pit road performance helped Stewart to an eighth-place finish in the second race of the season.
“This (Auto Club Speedway) isn't one of my strongest tracks, and to come out of here with a top-10 with this young of a team as far as us working together, that’s a pretty strong statement right there," said Stewart, co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing team. "Our guys had really great pit stops. That last pit stop, they got us out seventh, but I just couldn't hold us up there. I felt like team-wise, we've been solid for two weeks straight."
The No. 14 over-the-wall crew consists of: Jeff "Gooch" Patterson (gasman), Scott Radel (catch can), Mike Casto (jackman), Kelly Kellis (front tire changer), Todd Drakulich (front tire carrier), Daniel Smith (rear tire changer), Mike “Shrek" Morneau (rear tire carrier) and Troy Welty (windshield). The team's crew chief is Darian Grubb and the pit crew trainer is Joe Piette.
The Tissot Pit Road Precision Award pays $5,000 for each Cup race to the winning pit road team. In addition, the team with the most pit road event wins will be awarded a $100,000 bonus at the completion of the 36-race schedule by Tissot, the official watch and timekeeper of NASCAR.
Tissot has been an official partner of NASCAR since 2006 and is the official timekeeper for a number of other sports, including the MotoGP World Championship, the Ice Hockey World Championship and the Cycling World Championship.
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2009 Tissot Pit Road Precision Award Winners
Daytona 2/15 Reed Sorenson Team
Fontana, 2/22 Tony Stewart Team