Kenseth’s Crew Claims Tissot Pit Road Award
The quick stops by the No. 17 crew helped Kenseth attain a sixth-place finish at the one-mile oval.
Kenseth’s Crown Royal Black Ford spent the least amount of time on pit road – 289.915 seconds – during the 375-lap race, which was the longest Sprint Cup event in track history. Race winner Ryan Newman’s No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet was second (295.547) and Mark Martin’s No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet was third (302.847).
The No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing over-the-wall crew consists of: Justin Nottestad (front-tire changer), Joe Crossen (front-tire carrier), Dave Smith (rear-tire changer), Garrett Reding (rear-tire carrier), Cameron Cobb (jackman), Brad Robison (gasman) and Dave McDonald (catch can).
“When I got the news that the guys had won the Tissot award I thought that it was awesome," said crew chief Todd Parrott. "It’s truly a big award to receive and we know that the No.16 (Greg Biffle’s) team won the overall competition last year and it’s just a great award to get since it’s directly related to the team aspect of this sport."
Team pit crew coach Andy Ward added, "It’s certainly exciting to know that we’re getting rewarded for all the hard work the 17 team put in over the winter. I’m extremely proud of this team because Saturday night in Phoenix we were operating at less than 100 percent since we had one of the team members who stayed in the race the entire time even though he was fighting an injury."
The winning pit crew in each Sprint Cup race will earn $5,000 and 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.
Martin Truex Jr.’s team continues to top the Tissot standings with two wins after seven races. Five teams remain in second place with one win.
Tissot has been the official watch and timekeeper of NASCAR since 2006. The company is also 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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2010 Tissot Pit Road Precision Award Winners
Daytona, 2/14 Juan Pablo Montoya Team
Fontana, 2/21 Jeff Gordon Team
Las Vegas, 2/28 Martin Truex Jr. Team
Atlanta, 3/7 Martin Truex Jr. Team
Bristol, 3/21 Brad Keselowski Team
Martinsville, 3/29 Clint Bowyer Team
Phoenix, 4/10 Matt Kenseth Team