Tony Stewart’s pit crew won the Tissot Pit Road Precision Award in Sunday night’s (Sept. 5) Emory Healthcare 500 Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
It was the second Tissot win in the past three races for the No. 14 crew members, whose quick pit stop late in the race helped Stewart capture his first victory of the season.
Stewart’s No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet spent the least amount of time on pit road – 310.802 seconds – during the 325-lap, 500-mile race. Coming in a close second was Martin Truex’s No. 56 NAPA Toyota with a time of 310.939. Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 Lowe’s Chevy was third at 314.168.
“This team has been doing an awesome job for the last two-and-a-half or three months and we’ve been kind of quiet this year,” said Stewart. “We took off slow, but thank goodness for Office Depot and Old Spice and everybody who’s a part of this team – they’ve been doing a great job. The pit stops have been good. The cars have been good. With Darian (Grubb, crew chief) and these guys at our shop, it’s just been really fun the last couple of months.”
The No. 14 over-the-wall crew consists of: Kelly Kellis (front-tire changer), Todd Drakulich (front-tire carrier), Daniel Smith (rear-tire changer), Mike “Shrek” Morneau (rear-tire carrier), Mike Casto (jackman), Jeff “Gooch” Patterson (gasman), Rick Pigeon (catch can). The team’s pit crew coach is Joe Piette and the crew chief is Darian Grubb.
The weekly-winning crew receives $5,000 from Tissot plus a Tissot V8 Quartz Chronograph watch. The team with the most Tissot Pit Road Precision Award wins at the completion of the 36-race schedule will receive a $105,000 bonus plus Tissot watches for the over-the-wall crew members and driver.
After 25 races Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 crew continues to lead the Tissot competition with four wins while Jamie McMurray’s No. 1 crew is second at three wins. Stewart’s crew is in a five-way tie for third with two wins.
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