Johnson’s Team Wins Tissot Pit Road Award in Phoenix
The No. 48 crew, out of the Hendrick Motorsports stable, picked up the top prize as a result of Johnson’s Lowe’s Chevrolet spending the least amount of time on pit road (170.246 seconds) and finishing on the lead lap during the Kobalt Tools 500. The team’s effort helped Johnson post a fifth-place result in the season’s penultimate race.
“The over-the-wall guys did a fantastic job Sunday keeping us up front and setting us up for a top-five finish," said No. 48 crew chief Chad Knaus. “With one race to go everyone has to be on their A-game next week in Homestead and I'm confident these guys will give us another solid performance."
The No. 48 over-the-wall crew consists of: Clay Robinson (front-tire changer), Mike Houston (front-tire carrier), Joe Slingerland (rear-tire changer), Matt Ver Meer (rear-tire carrier), Jeff Cook (jackman), Caleb Hurd (gasman), Jamie Frady (catch can). The team’s pit crew coach is Greg Morin.
Heading into Sunday’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, four teams are currently tied for first place in the Tissot season standings. The teams for Matt Kenseth (No. 17), Jeff Gordon (No. 24), Kyle Busch (No. 18) and Jamie McMurray (No. 1) lead with each scoring four pit road wins.
In the event there is a tie at the end of the season for the Tissot Pit Road Precision Award championship, the tiebreaker goes to the team whose driver finishes the highest in the Sprint Cup point standings.
The Tissot season championship crew will receive a $105,000 bonus plus Tissot watches for the over-the-wall crew members and driver. Tissot has already paid out $175,000 in prize money with $5,000 going to the weekly-winning team.